Danisco Acquires South African Research Solutions

The acquisition is in line with our strategic intent to carry out bolt-on acquisitions to the extent that they expand and complement our existing business.

Aug 18 2010 --- The acquisition creates a new centre of excellence for Danisco's dairy and frozen desserts activities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Danisco has acquired the shares in the company Research Solutions in Cape Town, South Africa.

Research Solutions is a South African based company with expertise in offering customised ingredients solutions, in particular to the dairy industry. The acquisition is in line with our strategic intent to carry out bolt-on acquisitions to the extent that they expand and complement our existing business.

“With this acquisition we are creating a new centre of excellence for Danisco's dairy and frozen desserts activities in Sub-Saharan Africa. We are pooling the local skills and relationships from Research Solutions with Danisco’s local production and international backup of Danisco and aim to create the most competitive ingredients supplier in Sub-Saharan Africa, both in terms of quality, cost and responsiveness,” says Søren Olsen, Vice President, Systems, Danisco.

Research Solutions is situated very close to Danisco’s production and sales facility in Cape Town and will be integrated into this facility.

“Local presence in terms of production, technical service, logistics and close industry relationship is vital to operations in almost all parts of the world. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is no exception to this. We place high importance on having the right technical people do the job in the region. And we will grow by employing the best skilled people to give our customers a service they cannot obtain elsewhere,” says Paul Vet, Managing Director, Danisco South Africa.

South Africa makes up 85-90% of all sales in SSA with Nigeria and Kenya contributing second and third.

Danisco has a total of 61 employees in South Africa, located in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Danisco established its first presence in South Africa in 2000.