Specialist in food ingredients and pharmaceutical excipients Roquette has signed an agreement to acquire tablet maker Itacel from Brazil-based Blanver in a deal which would mark its entrance into Latin America and bolster its position in the international pharmaceutical space.

The acquisition of Itacel will reinforce Roquette’s position as a major supplier to the pharmaceutical industry and a global leader in natural-based pharmaceutical excipients solutions, according to the company.

However, with Roquette’s move to strengthen its position in pharmaceuticals, what could this mean for its food and nutrition markets?

Speaking with , a spokesperson for Roquette explains how the new acquisition will impact the business.

“Roquette investment will reinforce its global leadership in Pharma, and contribute to its strategic growth plan in Food, Nutrition and Health markets.”

“Indeed, this acquisition is fully in line with Roquette’s strategy to provide natural-based solutions to these markets worldwide, as Itacel, Blanver shareholders excipients division, is a leader in Latin America today with strong brands in the pharmaceutical and food excipient markets.”

“This investment will address a global growing market for today and tomorrow’s demand in Health and Pharma sectors. Indeed the Health and Nutrition markets, particularly pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, are driving the growth of the pharma sector.”

“There are significant complementarities between Itacel and Roquette for the benefit of customers in terms of know-how and industrial assets, commercial support, portfolio of products... Roquette will gain significant knowledge and talent of the cellulose-based ingredients business in addition to its own expertise on starch derivatives.”

“Thanks to this acquisition, Roquette will provide additional solutions to address evolving customer needs in natural-based excipients (binders, fillers, disintegrants) especially for pharma, food and nutraceuticals markets.”

The company, which produces food ingredients from plants such as corn, wheat, potatoes and peas, says the combination of the two businesses will contribute to Roquette’s strategic growth plan in the food, nutrition and health markets, and will create new opportunities for Roquette and Blanver’s customers and employees.

Itacel is headquartered in Itapevi, Brazil, close to São Paulo, and offers a large range of products including binders, fillers, disintegrants, to a wide client base including major pharmaceutical and food companies all over the world.

With more than 300 employees, Itacel benefits from a modern manufacturing plant with research and development laboratory facilities.

Blanver decided to divest its excipients business to focus on the expansion of its two other divisions: Medicines and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), feedstock used in medicines productions. The company has two other manufacturing sites, one in Taboão da Serra, where medicines are produced, and the other one in Indaiatuba, where the APIs plant is; each in the vicinity of São Paulo.

Roquette adds that its deep knowledge and expertise in the pharmaceutical industry will be further enhanced by Itacel´s long standing cellulose expertise, infrastructure and assets. It will allow the newly combined businesses to grow in the excipients market and develop closer relationships with existing and new customers, anticipating their future needs through new and ever more innovative solutions.

Both are family-owned companies and claim to share common core values which will ensure “a seamless integration of business practices and activities in the pursuit of their long-term vision”.

“This acquisition is a key milestone in the development of our service offering in the pharmaceutical industry and the expansion of our footprint in fast-growing emerging markets. Blanver’s leadership in excipient products in Brazil and Latin America represents a significant addition to our innovation capabilities, our manufacturing assets and our commercial network,” says Jean-Marc Gilson, CEO of Roquette.

“As such, this acquisition will fully enable Roquette to continue addressing our clients’ needs worldwide. We have been impressed by the talent of Itacel employees and are thrilled to welcome them into the Roquette family, and look forward to starting to work together.”

Sérgio Frangioni, CEO of Blanver, added: “We believe this is the best moment to do this negotiation, mainly because we decided to focus our expansion in the two other divisions of the group that became very important for us: medicines and APIs. On the other hand, Roquette has a similar culture to ours and is the best company to continue the work we began 35 years ago, when my father founded our company.”

The deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter of the year and is subject to the usual conditions.