As part of its 2020 strategy to expand the capabilities of its Active Beauty business, Givaudan has reached an agreement to acquire the cosmetics business of Indena.
 
Headquartered in Milan Italy, Indena is dedicated to the identification, development and production of active ingredients derived from plants, for use in the pharmaceutical, health food and personal care industries. With almost a century of botanical experience, Indena has developed expertise in this field, while ensuring biodiversity and protecting the ecosystem from uncontrolled harvesting, according to the companies.
 
Givaudan and Indena will also sign a long-term partnership agreement under which Indena will continue to manufacture ingredients for Givaudan, provide innovation capabilities and offer other supporting services. This partnership will allow both companies to enhance their capabilities and to focus on their respective core competencies.
 
Maurizio Volpi, president of Givaudan’s Fragrance Division commented, “The acquisition of the cosmetics business of Indena fits very well with our long-term strategy for Active Beauty. They have an excellent reputation in the market, thanks to the quality of their ingredients, their strong focus on innovation as well as the mastering of their supply chain. It offers Active Beauty an expanded portfolio of plant-based ingredients that nicely complement our current portfolio. We are very confident that the acquisition will further enhance our position as a leading player in the active cosmetic ingredients industry.”
 
Laurent Bourdeau, head of Givaudan’s Active Beauty Business said, “Indena’s cosmetics business will add high quality new active ingredients to our current portfolio of products. Their four strategic pillars—botanical expertise, research, scale up, quality safety and efficacy—fit perfectly with Givaudan Active Beauty’s future ambitions as well as with our sustainability approach, ‘A Sense of Tomorrow’. It is exciting to add such expertise to our existing capabilities and they will greatly contribute to our 2020 strategic ambitions and beyond.”
 
“We are in favor of this transaction as it enables Indena to focus on its core markets of pharmaceuticals and health food, whilst continuing to support the cosmetic ingredients business which has been a valuable part of our portfolio,” added Daniele Giavini, managing director of Indena. “We believe that Givaudan with its very long history and tradition in innovating taste and scent, coupled with its strong commercial presence, is the right partner to further strengthen this business in the future. Givaudan’s culture and its knowledge of natural cosmetic ingredients, as well as the use of the latest sustainable biotechnologies to create high-performing functional products, fit well with the philosophy we have consistently adopted at Indena throughout our history.”
 
The terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Givaudan plans to fund the transaction from existing resources. Indena’s cosmetic ingredients business would have represented approximately €8 million ($8.8 million) of incremental sales to Givaudan’s results in 2018 on a proforma basis. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.