NEW TECH FOODS

Lallemand has announced the closing of its acquisition of Swiss biotechnology business Evolva from Evolva Holding.

The transaction, which was originally announced to the Swiss Stock Exchange on 21 November last year, was approved by Evolva Holding shareholders in December. The acquisition was made through Lallemand’s subsidiary Danstar Ferment.

Evolva, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, focuses on the research, development and commercialisation of natural ingredients derived from yeast for applications across the flavours and fragrances, health ingredients cosmetics and health protection sectors.

Lallemand’s focus is on the development, production and marketing of yeasts, bacteria, fungi and enzyme solutions across multiple sectors including food ingredients, human and animal nutrition and the health and biofuel sectors.

Lars Asferg, president of Lallemand Bio-Ingredients, said: “Evolva offers us a strong strategic fit with our yeast-based technology platform. Evolva’s proprietary precision fermentation technology and R&D capabilities presents an ideal platform from which to expand our product offering mainly within health ingredients like Veri-te resveratrol and flavour and fragrance aroma components like valencene and natural nootkatone.”

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.