Capsugel, BLIS Technologies, Aker BioMarine, Others Announce Investments, Partnerships

Capsugel, BLIS Technologies, Aker BioMarine and others have announced expansions and partnerships to increase their production capacities, build sales and marketing strategies, as well as support sustainability efforts.

Capsugel is investing more than USD $25 million to increase production capacity and deliver further quality enhancements for its industry-leading vegetarian capsules. The investment is enabling a combination of new production lines and technology upgrades at four manufacturing locations in Capsugel’s global network: Greenwood, South Carolina, United States; Puebla, Mexico; Colmar, France; and Sagamihara, Japan. These investments began in late 2014, and the majority of the funding is taking place in 2015. Capsugel’s vegetarian portfolio includes Vcaps^®, Vcaps^® Plus, DRcaps™ and Plantcaps^® capsules, all of which are preservative-free, GMO-ingredient-free and gluten-free. 

BLIS Technologies Limited and Stratum Nutrition recently announced a reconfiguration of their relationship to better align with their respective sales and marketing strategies. Stratum Nutrition has been distributing BLIS ingredients in North America, Europe and Asia since 2012. Following a recent business strategy review, a new arrangement has been signed where Stratum Nutrition will focus solely on North America, while BLIS Technologies will manage Europe, Asia and other markets.

United Plant Savers joined with Pennsylvania Certified Organic (PCO) to support forest grown verification through cost-sharing. PCO established a voluntary Forest Grown Verification Program for forest grown products that are sustainably and legally produced and harvested. The program currently focuses on American ginseng products from private land, and PCO is currently working to add several other forest products to the list including black cohash, golden seal, false unicorn root, slippery elm, forest-farmed mushrooms, and forest farmed leeks.

In another sustainability-related effort, Aker BioMarine Antarctic renewed its partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Norway) to proactively support initiatives for a more sustainable world. For the second year in a row, Aker BioMarine will support the global Earth Hour movement. Earth Hour 2015, organized by WWF, encourages individuals, communities, households and businesses to turn off their lights for one hour as a symbol of their commitment to the planet. On March 28 from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time, Aker BioMarine will shut off the lights on its three vessels in the Southern Ocean.