A brand new ingredients company is to hit the marketplace. Backed by US soybean giant Bunge and ingredients company DuPont Protein Technologies, Solae, touting itself as 'one of the world's premier developers and marketers of branded, plant-based, specialty food, feed, and industrial ingredients,' aims to achieve annual revenues in the region of $800 million.
The two ingredients companies announced the creation of the company in early January this year but only concluded the finer details this week, marking the first stage of their joint agreement.
DuPont contributes its Protein Technologies food ingredients business for a majority interest in the joint venture. In exchange for its speciality food ingredients businesses, Bunge will receive a 28 per cent interest in the joint venture plus an estimated $260 million in cash, to be funded by joint venture debt, and will have the right to increase its ownership to 40 per cent based upon a pre-agreed formula. The Solae board will be made up of four members, two each from DuPont and Bunge.
In the second stage, Bunge will contribute its Brazilian ingredients operations and sell its majority interest in these operations to the Solae company, which then will extend an offer to acquire the interest of minority shareholders.
"One of the most important factors that distinguishes the Solae company is the track record of its predecessors as trusted innovators for, and advisors to, the food and beverage industries," said Stephan Tanda, chief executive officer of the new company.
"The demand for plant-based, speciality ingredients for meats, foods, and beverages is growing at healthy annual rates. The Solae Company has the scale and capacity to compete in these fast-growing market segments, and the firm will continue to pioneer the development of plant-based, speciality ingredients," added Tanda.
With manufacturing operations in four major regions and six technical centres around the world the company will focus on growing the global business in plant- based, speciality food ingredients - initially addressing soy protein and lecithin.
At the time of the initial announcement in January, Charles O. Holliday, DuPont chairman and chief executive officer, commented: "It is an important step in meeting our goals to grow our company in key markets and expand our food and nutrition offerings to better meet customer needs."