Lesaffre Acquires Sensient’s Strasbourg Yeast Extract Food Business

10 Jan 2017 --- As part of its ongoing expansion strategy in nutrition and health, Lesaffre, a global key player in the yeasts and fermentation industry announces the acquisition of Sensient‘s Strasbourg yeast extract food business and yeast extract facility.

Sensient’s facility produces and sells brewer's yeast extracts and yeast cell walls in particular for the human savory and animal feed industries. This operation, based at the Port Autonome de Strasbourg, France was part of the Sensient Technologies group, a global producer of flavors, colors and fragrances.  

The facility has been sold to Lesaffre in a transaction effective January 6, 2017. As a result of this divestiture, all European savory flavor production for the Company will be focused in the factory located in Felinfach in the United Kingdom. 

This strategic decision has been complementary to a major investment towards Sensient’s savory flavors and bionutrient business: a new culinary center and European headquarters named Inspire was opened in Strasbourg in 2016. As a leading flavor house, Sensient Flavors will continue to develop tailor-made creations with a dedicated team of experts. The Inspire facility is an innovative place to work with customers to design their flavor signature, and has dedicated areas for culinary preparations, food applications, sensory analysis, and flavor creation. Through its strong culinary experience and its proprietary technologies, Sensient Savory Flavors delivers unique savory notes to truly differentiate savory end-products in the marketplace. 

“These two events – the creation of the Inspire facility and the divestiture of the Strasbourg facility - are part of our strategy to become a supplier of differentiated products and solutions. We strongly believe that the key to successful innovations is collaboration with our customers. Together we can turn good ideas into great flavors,” explained Gautam Grover, President, Sensient Flavors. 

This acquisition is completely in line with Lesaffre's development strategy in the field of Nutrition and Health. Lesaffre will give a new impetus to the Strasbourg production unit by providing it with the industrial and financial resources for new developments.  
 
“This acquisition will strengthen our presence in the growing markets of brewer’s and baker’s yeast extracts and will provide a solid addition to the Lesaffre range. We are excited about this growth in our business which underlines our commitment to meeting our customer needs” said Antoine Baule, CEO of Lesaffre. 

“This acquisition corresponds to Lesaffre’s desire to widen its offer by adding brewing yeast extracts to its range of products. Lesaffre remains more than ever committed to be a close partner for its customers, offering them support and close technical assistance, thanks to its Culinary Centers and Baking Centers worldwide,” Baule told FoodIngredientsFirst.
 
Renamed Lesaffre Culinary Strasbourg, this operation employs 72 persons.