THE WHAT? Givaudan has announced that it is to acquire French biotech company Alderys. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but Alderys’ business would have represented €3 million of incremental revenues to Givaudan’s results in 2019 on a pro forma basis.

THE DETAILS Givaudan said that it intended to fund the acquisition through existing resourced and that the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of the year.

“We are very proud to join Givaudan and to bring in the bio-engineering platform we have developed with success for ten years,” said Dominique Thomas, CEO of Alderys. “We strongly believe this is a great opportunity to expand our scientific expertise to the service of the beauty, fragrance and flavour industry, whilst we will continue to serve our other historical and future partners.”

THE WHY? The deal is part of the flavors and fragrances giant’s long-term strategy to expand its capabilities in bio-engineering technologies. As Laurent Bourdeau, Head of Givaudan’s Active Beauty Business explained, “Alderys has a strong track record in designing innovative biological pathways to produce environmentally-friendly raw materials, which is essential to the way we develop our cosmetic ingredients. With specific scientific programmes dedicated to Active Beauty, we are very excited by the capabilities of Alderys to support us in enriching our offer to our customers.”