French plant-based ingredient producer Roquette Frres has sought fair trade regulator CCI’s approval for the proposed acquisition of the pharma solutions business and certain product lines of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (IFF).
Roquette Frres S.A. is a family-owned French firm active in the production and sale of plant-based ingredients, excipients, and plant proteins for various applications. It has operations in India through several subsidiaries, like Crest Cellulose, Sethness-Roquette India and Roquette India.
“The proposed transaction refers to the proposed acquisition by Roquette of the pharma solutions business and certain product lines of the Nourish business (ie, collectively the target business) of IFF by way of Roquette’s purchase of equity interest in certain IFF entities that collectively house / are proposed to house the target business,” said a notice filed with the CCI on January 16.
The target business primarily comprises the operations, and activities of IFF’s pharma solutions segment, with certain adjustments to include relevant businesses and product lines of the Nourish segment in order to align customers, businesses and manufacturing footprint. It is present in India through Danisco Nutrition and Biosciences India.
In its submission to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the assessment of the proposed transaction, Roquette said the transaction brings limited overlap in India in the supply of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and croscarmellose sodium (CCS), key ingredients for pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications.
In addition, a potential vertical linkage arises from IFF’s upstream activities in supplying hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and Roquette’s downstream operations in HPMC-based hard capsules.
Further, Roquette said that the deal would not pose competition concerns, given the limited market overlap and the presence of robust competitive constraints.
The company stated that the exact delineation of relevant product and geographic markets could be left open without impacting the competitive assessment.
The regulator’s approval is required to finalise the acquisition, which aims to strengthen Roquette’s position in the pharmaceutical excipients and ingredients market globally, including in India.
In March 2024, IFF said that it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Pharma Solutions business unit to French leader of plant-based ingredients Roquette for an enterprise value of up to USD 2.85 billion.
Pharma Solutions business operates 10 research and development and/or production sites globally, and generated approximately USD 1 billion revenue in 2023.
