Cerea Partners invests in omega-3 player Polaris
The companies have entered negotiations with a view to acquire a majority stake of Polaris alongside the Company’s management and current shareholders and French regional investors.
Since its inception in 1994, Polaris has become a recognised player in the field of the purification and concentration of microalgae and fish oils, making it possible to obtain products with a high concentration of Omega 3.
The French company has a turnover of €30 million and serves the food supplements, nutraceutical and infant nutrition markets, mainly abroad. It has patented processes for stabilising and deodorising the oils to improve their longevity, nutritional quality and organoleptic profile.
Seventure invested in Polaris through its FCPI Retails funds in 2009, allowing Polaris to start industrial production in 2013, then invested again with its Health for Life Capital II fund in 2021, enabling Polaris to move from a distributor to a manufacturer model.
In 2018, the Company’s leadership transition was completed with the recruitment of Dominique Taret, as CEO, and Louis Marie Martin, as COO, accelerating organic growth and the development of microbiome modulating products.
With Cerea Partners as the new majority shareholder, Polaris is now entering a new phase of its development revolving around three main areas: The strengthening of its know-how in microalgae oils; the pursuit of international development, particularly in North America and Asia; an the development of new applications, particularly in infant nutrition and food which could be accompanied by targeted external growth.
Dominique Taret, CEO of Polaris, said: “Cerea and Seventure share the same vision and strategy for Polaris. This unity of investors’ thinking for Polaris is extremely important for the Company’s ambition to consolidate its leadership on the Omega 3 microalgae bases processes market.”
Antoine Peyronnet, Managing Partner at Cerea Partners, said: “Omega 3 have become essential elements for our health. The development of a sustainable Omega 3 offer from microalgae is part of new consumption habits and is at the heart of the Cerea Capital III fund’s investment strategy as well as the firm’s social corporate responsibility approach.
Polaris portfolio
Polaris' portfolio includes Omegavie Algae, which is a sustainable, vegetarian algal Omega-3 DHA. The product is fish-free and derived microalgae grown, fermented and extracted in a controlled environment.
The manufacturer's 'sensory' concept guarantees Omegavie oils with outstanding organoleptic properties meaning a very low taste and flavour impact on the finished product. The organoleptic performance of the oils are measured by internal and external panels.
As a specialist in lipochemistry, Polaris also offers a toll manufacturing service using its concentration, purification and deodorisation technologies for health actives and ingredients. Its innovative technologies enables the fractionation of health ingredients through a gentle process and without the use of solvents for nutraceuticals and cosmetic applications.
Goal-focused partners
Since 2004, Cerea Partners has made more than 170 investments around three Sustainable Development Goals: feeding the population, via processing of food products, beverages, ingredients/inputs, extracts and natural resources, animal feed; developing responsible consumption and production, via equipment, packaging, R&D, environment, energy management, logistics and transport; and promoting well-being, through dietary and medical nutrition, health & beauty, specialist distribution, and catering.
Seventure Partners is a long-term equity investor which supports innovative companies aiming to generate positive impacts through two main areas of work: Life sciences, with a specific interest for microbiome-related innovations, and digital technologies.
