The companies are not disclosing the amount of the investment. Headquartered in Purchase, New York, Maypro Group is a privately held supplier for nutraceutical ingredients to the dietary supplement, sports nutrition, cosmetic, functional food and fine chemical industries.
Japanese general trading company Marubeni has a 124 offices worldwide and claims total revenues of more than $70bn. It already has a strong presence in the food industry, and its investment in Maypro points to confidence in the direction of the nutrition and health industries.
"Consumers care more about their health in this day and age," said Marubeni America executive vice president and COO, Tsutomu Yamamoto. "We expect this industry to continue its steady growth."
As it stands, the dietary supplement industry in the US alone is worth $23bn in annual sales.
"Maypro would like access to Marubeni's global resources and network," Maypro director of business development Dan Lifton told NutraIngredients-USA.
"Marubeni can potentially offer us new sources for commodities or ingredients," said Lifton, "as well as access to new clients."
Maypro has specialized in ingredients such as coenzyme Q10, chondroitin, glucosamine, alpha- lipoic acid and AHCC medicinal mushroom for the US market. The group conducts research for proprietary and branded ingredients through its subsidiary, Quality of Life Labs.
"Over the past three decades, we have significantly grown our ingredients business, developed a strong portfolio of patented, branded products and expanded our operations in the US, Japan and China to build a truly global platform, which we are now seeking to further expand with Marubeni's support," said Maypro president and CEO, Steve Yamada.
Marubeni wanted to align itself with a health and nutrition company and initially approached Maypro over a year ago, according to Lifton. The investment was then made in mid-September of this year.
In addition to this strategic investment, Marubeni and Maypro announced they intend to explore opportunities for joint projects in the nutraceutical and food industries. Although the companies have not disclosed what exactly these projects may be, they are targeting the aging population particularly of the US, Japan and Europe.
As a general trading company, Marubeni said it acts as an intermediary and broker in a variety of trading activities between enterprises and countries. The corporation also provides specialized services, such as marketing and sales support, transportation, financing, engineering and construction service.