DuPont Makes $6.3 Billion Offer for Danisco

DuPont Nutrition & Health and Applied Biosciences has agreed to acquire Danisco for $5.8 billion, with assumption of $500 million of Danisco debt, the companies announced today. This marriage would make DuPont an industrial biotechnology leader, with Danisco’s enzymes and specialty food ingredients enhancing DuPont’s solutions for addressing global challenges in food production, resulting in more-robust offerings for the food industry.

“Danisco has two well-positioned global businesses that strongly complement our current biotechnology capabilities, R&D pipeline, and specialty food ingredients, a combination that offers attractive long-term financial returns,” said DuPont chair and CEO Ellen Kullman. “This would also create new opportunities across other parts of the DuPont portfolio, including traditional materials science offerings.”

“This transaction is a perfect strategic fit…and will help us solve global challenges presented by dramatic population growth in the decades to come, specifically related to food and energy,” she added.

Danisco’s specialty food ingredients, including enablers, cultures, and sweeteners, generate approximately 65% of the company’s total sales, while Genencor, the firm’s enzymes division, represents 35% of total sales. The company has almost 7000 global employees and operations in 23 countries.

The transaction is expected to close early in the second quarter of this year.