Naturex, the global leader in specialty plant-based natural ingredients, informs its shareholders of strategic advances in the F&V market in the United States.

Present in the market for natural vegetable-based ingredients through Vegetables Juices Inc., acquired in 2014, Naturex is pursuing organic and exteal growth opportunities to strengthen its leadership position in the United States. These will enable Naturex to take advantage of strong market trends in favour of the natural, clean label products and nutrition as well as energize its business project portfolio in this key product category.

Naturex strengthens both its commercial base in the beverage and food industry segment and its industrial footprint in the United States, through two acquisitions:

• On the one hand, by acquiring selected industrial technologies and operations of Haliburton Inteational Foods. This acquisition will enable Naturex to integrate a new technology (roasting) as well as natural vegetable-based solutions (purees, sauces, roasted veggies);
• On the other hand, Naturex has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire a fruit-based specialty business and a production facility in the United States. This will enable Naturex to expand its manufacturing capabilities in juices and purees and complete the know-how derived from its long-standing “vegetable” operations by developing a “fruit” platform. This acquisition will provide access in particular to the Organic fruit range and address the growing demand for NFC (Not From Concentrate) juices that guarantee lower sugar content and the preservation of nutritional values.

Creating value for Vegetable Juices Inc. with a reinforced business model

The purpose of these initiatives is to strengthen Vegetable Juices Inc.’s business model and positioning as a multi-specialist in the very promising market of fruit and vegetable-based natural ingredients.

“This mix of exteal and organic growth is fully in line with Naturex’s strategy for accelerating the development of our platform of natural fruit and vegetable-based ingredients.

This will expand our expertise by strengthening our industrial footprint with additional technological know-how, sourcing, traceability and access to the organic sectors, in order to better service our customers.

This complimentary offering will make it possible to develop synergies between different product categories and applications (like “savoury”, beverages, functional foods and nutrition & health) and increase our penetration with existing customers,”, commented Olivier Rigaud, Naturex’s Chief Executive Officer and Director.

“These initiatives confirm our determination to accelerate the pace of our development and give a new impetus to our offering of natural solutions coming from fruits and vegetables, and in so doing address the specific needs of our customers, by supporting them in adapting to changes and trends in our markets.”

As exclusive M&A advisors to Naturex, Canec Inteational initiated and facilitated the Haliburton transaction.

LACROIX is going “multi-continental” by acquiring a stake in the electronic manufacturing services (EMS) provider FIRSTRONIC LLC, based in Michigan. LACROIX’s Electronics activity becomes a key global player for manufacturers in automotive, healthcare, home & building automation, avionics and industry segments.

This alliance with FIRSTRONIC LLC will provide support for customers of LACROIX Electronics, the LACROIX Group’s EMS subsidiary, in North America, in particular for automotive equipment vendors who have factories in the United States and Mexico and wish to collaborate with local partners specialising in the production of electronic assemblies.

With FIRSTRONIC, manufacturers have the flexibility and responsiveness of a regional player with factories in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Juarez, Mexico, while retaining the expertise and trust established with LACROIX.

From its perspective, FIRSTRONIC will be able to offer its American customers access to the European market thanks to LACROIX Electronics plants in Europe, ensuring continuation in the quality of service and opening the potential use of its design office.

This “alliance” will also enable consolidated purchasing by combining European and American spend vis-a-vis suppliers.

“This structural step in our strategic plan demonstrates our commitment to supporting our customers and their expectation to work with global EMS suppliers. It will help accelerate LACROIX’s inteational development outside Europe. FIRSTRONIC is a concrete response to the requirements expressed by our strategic customers,” explains Vincent Bedouin, Chairman of the LACROIX Group. “The collaboration with FIRSTRONIC is based on shared values, comparable processes, and very similar customers. FIRSTRONIC’s CEO previously managed an EMS of similar size to LACROIX Electronics. He is a graduate of INSEAD and knows Europe very well,” adds Bedouin.
The group is creating a subsidiary, LACROIX North America Inc., as its beachhead for development in North America, and the first joint activities are scheduled for spring 2017.

“Firstronic is also excited about working with LACROIX to fulfil our customers’ demand for electronic manufacturing services in Europe, as well as leveraging their strength in product design and development,” stated John Sammut, President & CEO of Firstronic LLC.

ABOUT FIRSTRONIC
Firstronic provides advanced electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and optimized supply chain solutions for the electronics industry. Its multinational purchasing expertise ensures a cost competitive supply chain. With advanced software tools that support program management, in-house engineering that includes design, DFX and test, and cutting edge manufacturing processes, Firstronic can support almost any customer requirement. To lea more: www.firstronic.com.

As M&A advisors to the Lacroix Group, Canec Inteational advised on structuring the transaction and facilitated in its execution.

French plastics and composites processor Dedienne Multiplasturgy Group said Feb. 12 it has purchased Illinois custom molder and mold builder MET Plastics Inc., giving each company its first transatlantic manufacturing presence and access to broader markets. Dedienne, which has more than 400 employees and four factories in France and Romania specializing in high performance polymers, said MET will give it a profitable operation in North America and access in particular to MET’s aerospace and medical customer base.

Terms were not disclosed. MET, which will be renamed Met2Plastic LLC, has 35 employees, 10 injection molding machines and mold building capacity in its factory in Elk Grove Village, Ill., near Chicago. “This new joint venture will be commercially and technically profitable for both companies,” said Pierre-Jean Leduc, president of CEO of Dedienne, in a statement. DMG is based in Saint Aubin sur Gaillon in northe France.

Met2Plastic President Mike Walter said that “joining forces with a like-minded business will help us both to flourish as we grow our operations in North America and Europe.” Met2Plastic said being part of Dedienne will give it access to more technology to convert metal parts to plastic for its customer base, and potentially better access to the North American operations of Dedienne’s European customers. “This presence in Europe, along with the ability to offer new material and plastic and composite process technologies, makes Met2Plastic a more dynamic organization,” the company said.

In an interview, Walter said DMG has strong capabilities in research and development. “From the first time we met with Dedienne, we were immediately intrigued with their capabilities,” Walter said. “They are very focused on developing new technologies.” He said MET is a niche company and was finding that with a lot of its customers having operations in both North America and Europe, it was more challenging for MET to supply European factories. As well, its customer base had been consolidating, he said. “We are a niche company and specialize in what we call mission critical components,” Walter said.

Dedienne’s statement said Met2Plastic “staff and leadership will remain in place,” and said specifically that having a manufacturing presence in the Chicago area would be beneficial to DMG. Walter is also the immediate past president of the trade group Manufacturers Association for Plastics Processors and sits on MAPP’s board. MET Plastics was founded in 1970 making injection molds and manufacturing prototypes, but by the mid-1990s much of its business had transitioned to low-volume production runs.

As M&A advisors to Dedienne, Canec Inteational initiated and facilitated this transaction.

 

The acquisition of Interpolymer Corporation adds polymer-based solutions to the Zschimmer & Schwarz business portfolio. By this acquisition, the specialty chemicals manufacturer gains access to a growing market.

Lahnstein, October 2015 – In line with a clearly defined growth strategy, Zschimmer & Schwarz has acquired Interpolymer Corporation, USA. The acquisition expands the existing business portfolio of the specialty chemicals manufacturer with polymer-based solutions and adds a new division to the existing six business areas. The transaction took place as per 22 October 2015.

Presence in the market to remain unchanged

Interpolymer Corporation, with production sites in the US, France and China and a subsidiary in Germany, has become a worldwide specialist and technology leader for tailor-made, specialty polymers since it was founded in 1963. Company founder, Norwin Wolff, sees the acquisition as a sign of continuity: ”With the family owned Zschimmer & Schwarz group, we found a new partner who will maintain the focus of our business on supplying high quality polymers along with extensive technical support and close customer contact“. ”We are pleased that the Wolff family has chosen Zschimmer & Schwarz, and that Norwin Wolff will continue to support us with his vast knowledge and experience“ says Martin Haberl, president of Interpolymer and one of the general managers of Zschimmer & Schwarz Chemie. ”Interpolymer matches very well with Zschimmer & Schwarz in many aspects. We are therefore very optimistic for our combined future“. The legal entity Interpolymer, “Creative Polymer Solutions”, will remain unchanged. This also applies for all operation facilities including representatives and contact persons. Norwin Wolff will remain with the company and act as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) on a consulting basis for Interpolymer.

Solina Group (“Solina”) has signed a binding agreement to acquire from Paulig its INDUSTRIAL FLAVOURING DIVISION. Paulig Group (“Paulig”) is the selling majority shareholder. The IFD management will join Solina Group.

Paulig’s Industrial Flavouring Division is the Nordic Market leader in the field of taste products for meat industry. Outstanding producer and supplier of blends, spices, herbs, marinades and functional ingredients to the Food Industry, Paulig’s Industrial Flavouring Division has developed long term relationships with the Nordic blue chips Meat, Prepared Meals and Snacks producers.

During the past years, Paulig’s Industrial Flavouring Division has developed a strong leadership in the area, with an efficient organiza- tion based on Sales, R&D and Marketing teams in Finland, Sweden, Norway and the Baltic states. Its production center is based in Esto- nia offering a fast track delivery service to all customers. Today, the company has around 150 employees with headquarters in Helsinki, Finland and sales/R&D office in Göteborg, Sweden and Oslo, Norway.

Eric Terré, CEO, Solina Group, said: “The Industrial Flavouring Division of Paulig perfectly fits our North European organization – The Company is highly recognized for its service level and products quality and we’re looking forward to working with the management team and the organization. The Industrial Flavouring Division will benefit from the existing Solina’s Meat R&D platform as well as the Group’s structure for inteational development”.

Through the acquisition of Paulig’s Industrial Flavouring Division Solina Group is increasing its presence in Nordic countries and in Russia. Solina’s ambition is to complete its fast growing network of local service operations in the region and develop a leading edge integrated service for Key Customers in Europe and Easte countries. Strengthening its local R&D and strong Master Labs structure in France, Belgium and Denmark, Solina Group ‘creates solutions for tomorrow’s food’.

“Solina expands in Weste Europe within its three core businesses: Service to Meat Industry, Service to the Culinary and Snack In- dustries and Service to Professionals. Paulig’s Industrial Flavouring Division represents a perfect strategic match for Solina Group in expansion process. Customers of both Solina and Paulig’s Industrial Flavouring Division will benefit from an extended service platform and more R&D and innovation investments. The group will offer the widest range of products in savoury businesses in Europe”, added Eric Terré.

Jaana Tuominen, CEO of Paulig Group added : “As part of the Solina Group’s the Industrial Flavouring Division now has an even greater possibility to proceed with its growth strategy outside the Nordic countries. We believe this is a very good home for the business. For Paulig Group, the transaction means that we will focus on consumer goods and foodservice operations within the coffee, inteational food concepts, spices and snack food categories. We have also entered the natural health food category with the acquisition of Risenta AB earlier this year and we will continue to develop this business, she concludes”.

Canec originated and facilitated this transaction, acting as exclusive M&A advisor to the acquiror.

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — ANSYS (NASDAQ: ANSS), the global leader and innovator of engineering simulation software, announced today that it has acquired the assets of Newmerical Technologies Inteational (NTI), a premier developer of in-flight icing simulation software and associated design, testing and certification services. Terms of the deal, which closed earlier this week, were not disclosed.

Montreal-based NTI develops and markets advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and offers flow simulation services in the aerospace, architectural, automotive and marine industries. NTI’s suite of state-of-the-art, specialized software can solve problems in aerodynamics, in-flight icing, heat transfer, fluid-structure interaction and wind engineering.

In-flight icing is a safety-critical aspect of aircraft design, yet is a highly complex physical phenomenon that is extremely difficult to replicate using expensive physical tests. In late 2014, the Federal Aviation Administration introduced new rules for icing standards with particular focus on the icing environments known as supercooled liquid drops (SLD) and ice crystals at high altitudes. This has impacted aircraft original equipment manufacturers, engine manufacturers and systems suppliers as they move through the aircraft certification process. Capturing aircraft icing using simulation requires highly accurate CFD and industry-proven methods and expertise for icing phenomena.

“With its SLD-ready, industry-leading FENSAP-ICE system of icing simulation tools, NTI’s assets are an exciting addition to the ANSYS portfolio,” said Jim Cashman, ANSYS president and CEO. “When combined with ANSYS’ advanced CFD solutions, we can offer a simulation-driven solution for aircraft icing that is unmatched in the industry. This further demonstrates the ANSYS commitment to help organizations overcome aircraft certification challenges – and, more broadly, to validate complete virtual prototypes.”

“With ever-increasing regulations, it is a challenging time for the aerospace industry,” said Wagdi Habashi, NTI’s founder. “NTI has always been extremely attentive to the needs of our clients. We believe that adding our specialty icing technology to the broad ANSYS offering will provide customers with unique, state-of-the-art technology to deal with the most complicated design challenges.”

Canec originated and facilitated this transaction, acting as exclusive M&A advisor to the selling shareholders.

 

STAMFORD, USA – CellMark Chemicals, a Division of CellMark AB (Gothenburg, SWEDEN) announced today that its acquisition of AnMar Inteational Ltd. closed on September 2 2014. AnMar, located in Bridgeport, Connecticut USA is a well-established manufacturer and distributor of a wide variety of vitamins, plant extracts, nutraceutical ingredients, amino acids, and other fine chemical related products.

The move to acquire AnMar supports CellMark Chemicals’ long term strategy to bolster its global presence in the specialty markets in which it operates, and furthermore, to expand its custom manufacturing capabilities that is a growing part of its portfolio of product & service offerings.

Mr. Hugo Galletta, Head of CellMark’s Chemical Division said that, “the owners of AnMar have done an exceptional job at establishing itself in the US nutraceuticals market with good quality suppliers and its own manufacturing capabilities…with the added capabilities of CellMark’s financial strength and global reach we see a winning combination for AnMar’s suppliers, customers, and employees.” AnMar’s Senior Vice President and Sales Director, Mr. Alan Pollard added that, “CellMark’s intention to grow and develop AnMar’s business beyond its traditional boundaries is a good sign for all involved…the business models employed by both AnMar and CellMark are quite similar which should make for a smooth transition.”

CellMark AB Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Fredrik Anderson commented that, “the acquisition of AnMar is a testament to CellMark’s commitment to make strategic investments in order to help grow our Operating Divisions…we see the AnMar acquisition as another way to grow our network of relationships and to leverage our partnerships in a manner to promote growth and development.” The Company Chairman & Co-Founder of CellMark, Mr. Thomas Hedberg added that, “We have confidence in our Chemical Division’s ability to grow and add value to our business partners and stakeholders…the AnMar acquisition is one the most important in our 30- year history which demonstrates our continued appetite to grow the CellMark organization in new ways.”

Canec originated and facilitated this transaction, acting as exclusive advisor to the selling shareholders.

Naturex, the global leader in specialty plant-based natural ingredients, has finalized the acquisition of 100% of the capital of Chicago-based Vegetable Juices Inc., a company specializing in the production and distribution of natural vegetable ingredients.

This transaction meets the Group’s strategic criteria for exteal growth projects and will strengthen our position as a multi-specialist of natural ingredients, particularly within the still highly fragmented and growing market of fruit and vegetable-based ingredients.

With a broad variety of vegetables available in multiple formats, Vegetable Juices Inc. develops technical and customized natural ingredients with nutritional and organoleptic properties (taste, texture, colors, etc) that meet food and beverage manufacturers’ expectations (smoothies, ready meals, sauces, etc). Vegetable Juices Inc.’s expertise allows them to deliver custom solutions that suit various technical requirements of its customers.

The acquisition of Vegetable Juices Inc. will double the size of our Food & Beverage operations in the United States and represents a very good opportunity to accelerate Naturex’s growth in this market, particularly in the technical segment of vegetable-based ingredients. Founded 80 years ago in Chicago, historic heart of the food business in the United States, Vegetable Juices Inc. has established a strong industrial and scientific base positioning the company as a key player in this segment. Vegetable Juices Inc.’s quality client portfolio includes many major global food and beverage companies, and their culinary and superior sourcing capabilities will benefit the Group and accelerate our development in these areas.

“We are very proud of this acquisition and delighted by the addition to our Group of the Vegetable Juices Inc. team that shares our values of excellence, technical and scientific innovation and customer-centric culture”, commented Naturex’s CEO, Thierry Lambert. “This acquisition is perfectly aligned with our strategy and will allow us to significantly strengthen our position in the United States, the world’s largest food industry market. It will also offer us an excellent complementarity in terms of products to provide new momentum to our offering of fruit and vegetable-based ingredients (NAT F&VTM range) across our sales network.”

Elizabeth Doyle, CEO of Vegetable Juices Inc. added: “We are extremely pleased with this acquisition by Naturex. Our companies’ values are aligned. This acquisition will ensure business continuity, growth of the company and advancement of the values and work fostered by the Garvy family for so many years.”

Also commenting on this acquisition, Steve Wiley, COO of Vegetable Juices Inc.: “We are very pleased to be joining Naturex Group. Vegetable Juices Inc. will have the opportunity to benefit from the significant development potential offered by combining our technical and scientific expertise, enhancing our product offering and maximizing our commercial presence.”

As exclusive M&A advisors to Naturex, Canec Inteational facilitated the transaction.

Naturex, the global leader in specialty plant-based natural ingredients, announces the acquisition of a majority stake in Chile Botanics, a new Chilean company specialized in the production and marketing of Quillaja extracts.

This new investment of approximately US$3 million fits the Group’s strategy of pursuing selective exteal growth opportunities using a collaborative approach, when applicable, in building equity positions. This strategy allows it to address the principal market trend related challenges: access to differentiating or complementary raw materials, penetrating or strengthening local positions in geographical markets with strong potential, developing an offering combined quality, innovation and sustainability.

Chile Botanics is in this respect a particularly interesting company, providing both an additional base in Latin America where Naturex is already present (Brazil and Mexico), access to very specific resources (Quillaja) and a solid positioning as a specialist underpinned by the involvement of strong local management.

As exclusive M&A advisors to Naturex, Canec Inteational initiated and facilitated the transaction.