Aker BioMarine Acquires Enzymotec’s Krill Oil Business in $26.4 Million Deal

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On January 11, Frutarom Industries Ltd. (Haifa District, Israel), a flavor and natural specialty ingredient company, announced that it has completed its acquisition of Enzymotec Ltd. (Migdal Ha’Emek, Israel). Following the acquisition, Frutarom sold Enzymotec’s krill oil business to Aker BioMarine (Oslo, Norway) for $26.4 million, noting that the krill oil business did not fit with Frutarom’s core activities. The acquisition is part of Frutarom’s merger plan to “enable the rapid, efficient, and comprehensive integration of the global activities of both companies,” according to a press release from Frutarom.

The sale heralds a strategic partnership between Aker and Frutarom through which Aker will serve both Frutarom’s and Enzymotec’s krill oil customers. In addition, Frutarom stated that its Israeli headquarters will be combined with Enzymotec’s headquarters at the its plant in Migdal Ha’Emek.

In the press statement, Ori Yehudai, president, CEO, Frutarom, stated: “We are working towards focusing Enzymotec on the growing and profitable fields which we view as its core activities, accelerating the profitable growth of Frutarom’s and Enzymotec’s joint activities and on fully exploiting the significant cross-selling opportunities inherent in the acquisition, expanding Enzymotec’s business into additional countries and to many other Frutarom customers and expanding the product portfolio to the existing customer base[s] of both companies.”

Specifically, Frutarom’s future activity will focus on the following “core” activities: infant formula, elderly clinical nutrition, dietary supplements, and pharmaceuticals. Frutarom also noted that it is taking steps to build a new R&D and innovation center.