The paper suggests that potential buyers failed to reach agreement on the price for the business, which could be affected by declining prices for the sweetener Sunnett when the patent expires in 2005.
Sunnett, the brand name for acesulfame K, is the unit's lead product, far outselling some of the newer ingredients to enter its portfolio, such as the microalgae-derived fatty acid DHA, only the second vegetarian DHA product on the market, and some other health ingredients.
But while Nutrinova generated sales of around €150 million in 2003, this only accounts for 4 per cent of overall turnover at Celanese, its owner since the demerger from Hoechst in 1999, when Hoechst merged with Rhone-Poulenc to form Aventis.
At this time, Celanese rapidly divested some of its activities including two generics businesses that were not considered core to the company. But it took no action on the food ingredients business until last year when it announced that it was looking at options for Nutrinova.
"We said a year ago that we were not considering Nutrinova as a core business, that we were considering our value-enhancing options. That meant a sale, or a joint venture or other options within the business," said a Celanese spokesman.
He added: "It's true that there were a couple of negotiations but at the end of the day we feel that it is currently better to keep it. The operating profit is very good and so are our margins."
Industry sources cited by the Financial Times said at least three companies had submitted bids for Nutrinova but that Celanese parent company, the US investment firm Blackstone, was unable to agree on a price.
The company has already seen sales at Nutrinova decline 9 per cent in the first half of this year compared to the 2003 same six-month period due to lower prices in the high intensity sweetener market and the upcoming expiry of the European and US patents for Sunnett in 2005. Volumes are however expanding due to new and existing applications in the beverage and confectionary markets and operating profits were up to €21 million from €13 million the prior year.