Wacker AG expands biotech business through €100m acquisition

Following Wacker’s purchase of fermentation assets in the northern Spanish city of León in 2016, the chemical group now owns the entire site. The acquisition of the company expands WACKER’s fermentation capacities by approximately 2,000 cubic meters adding capacities for recovery and purification processes. Wacker announced it will continue ADL BioPharma’s customer relationships for fermentation-based products for the food, pharmaceutical and consumer goods industries. According to Wacker Group, the purchase price for the acquisition exceeded €100 million

“Acquiring ADL BioPharma is an important step in the continued growth of our biotechnology business, with which we expect to generate one billion euros in sales in 2030,” says Wacker’s CEO Christian Hartel, explaining the reasons for the investment. “The additional fermentation capacities will provide a foundation for growth in the field of sustainably produced dietary ingredients.”

Wacker Biosolutions has operated cystine fermentation plants at the León site for the past seven years. In 2016, Wacker acquired production assets with a fermentation capacity of 800 cubic meters from ADL BioPharma. The entire plant has total fermentation capacities of just under 3,000 cubic meters . Susanne Leonhartsberger, head of the Wacker Biosolutions business division, sees sustainable ingredients for the foods and nutritional supplements industries as a growth market in the coming years.

ADL BioPharma features comprehensive expertise in process development and production scale-up of sustainably manufactured fermentation products for a variety of markets and industries. Its portfolio includes flavorings and fragrances, pharmaceutical actives and ingredients for food, personal care and cosmetics products. With plant facilities covering some 55,000 square meters, fermentation capacities of roughly 2,000 cubic meters, plus additional capacity for recovery and purification processes, ADL BioPharma is one of Europe’s largest contract manufacturing plants for fermentation-based biotechnology products. The overall site covers an area of just under 150,000 square meters. Its roughly 300 employees make ADL BioPharma one of the largest employers in the León region.