DSM buys 30 per cent of Provexis
DSM has invested about £1.5 million (€1.87m) in UK functional ingredients and technology licensing specialist, Provexis.
Neither company was available for comment by the time of publication but DSM said in a statement its 29.3 per cent stake in Provexis formed part of its strategy “to further expand in ingredients for functional food and dietary supplements”.
The deal saw DSM purchase 230m Provexis shares at £0.0065 (€0.0044) and makes the Dutch company Provexis's biggest investor.
Areas such as cardiovascular and digestive health were being targeted and these were specialty areas for Provexis which had developed a technology and end-product based around tomato extract.
That product, Sirco, a heart health-marketed juice launched in the UK in 2006 had been withdrawn for unclear reasons but Provexis had entered into licensing arrangements with Coca-Cola and Unilever for use of the Fruitflow technology that produced the tomato extracts used in Sirco.
DSM said it was interested in other products and technologies Provexis was developing.
"We are proud to be shareholder of Provexis,” said Krijn Rietveld, senior DSM Nutritional Products vice president new business development and Provexis’s new non-executive director.
“Their ingredients pipeline has valuable health benefits and attractive market potential in line with DSM's ambition levels. Their professional approach in attracting, developing and licensing interesting technologies is key to succeed in this competitive environment."
Provexis chief executive officer, Stephen Moon said: "We welcome DSM as a strategic shareholder in our company while we continue to strengthen the technical capability of the business in line with our strategy. We expect DSM to become a valuable shareholder of our company, with their extensive knowledge of both products and the market."
In Provexis’s annual statement published in March, Moon stated in his director’s address: “We are working closely with Coca-Cola and are making good progress in consumer testing, commercial assessment and finalising regulatory approval in a range of territories. In our collaboration with Unilever, the R&D team are on track with the development of a format suitable for inclusion in Unilever product formats. Additionally, negotiations are underway with potential partners in the global dietary supplement sector. Initiatives to secure partners in other claim areas and product sectors continue.”
DSM’s investment was carried out by its venture capital business, DSM Venturing, and forms its 20th such investment. DSM Venturing has €200m in its kitty to be spent by 2012.
