Munich-based chemical group Wacker has reached an agreement with financial investor Kartesia to acquire 100% of the shares in biotech company ADL BioPharma, which specialises in contract manufacturing (CMO). The deal, which has been closed for more than one hundred million euros, comes after Wacker Biosolutions, the German company's life sciences division, acquired part of the Spanish company's fermentation facilities in León in 2016.

This latest development expands Wacker's fermentation capacity by around 2,000 cubic metres (gross volume), and brings new capabilities for recovery and purification processes. The company’s goal is to maintain and strengthen existing customer relationships maintained by ADL Biopharma in its capacity as a CMO for fermentation-based products for the food, pharmaceutical and consumer goods industries.

Workforce expansion
The buyer will retain the 300-strong workforce. In fact, in the seven years that the fermentation area has been in operation, the company has improved the facilities, purchasing new equipment and creating sixty new jobs. The takeover of the rest of the plant means that the total fermentation capacity will rise to just under 3,000 cubic metres.

Christian Hartel, CEO at Wacker, sees the purchase as “an important step in the continued growth of our biotechnology business, with which we expect to generate one billion euros in sales in 2030”, also affirming that “ADL BioPharma has developed very well in recent years and has seen strong sales growth. The additional fermentation capacities will provide a basis for growth in the area of sustainably produced food ingredients. With Wacker's technological expertise and the capacities of ADL BioPharma, we are positioning ourselves as a much stronger player in this growth market”.

Growth opportunities
Susanne Leonhartsberger, director of Wacker Biosolutions, announced plans for a CMO business that “fits very well into our portfolio. The company has extensive and extremely important customer relationships, which we will continue to pursue and expand. We will be integrating these activities into Wacker Biosolutions, for example by producing sustainable ingredients for the food and nutritional supplements industries. This is where we foresee growth opportunities at the León site in the coming years. We are delighted to welcome our new colleagues to the company, and we plan to work with them in the ongoing expansion of our business”.

ADL BioPharma’s portfolio includes flavourings and fragrances, pharmaceutical actives and ingredients for food, personal care and cosmetic products. Its facilities occupy around 55,000 square meters of a 150,000-square metre plot, and it is one of the largest contract manufacturing plants in Europe for fermentation-based products. The 300-strong workforce make it one of the largest employers in the province of León.

^{Photo: ADL BioPharma}