Royal DSM has recently reached an agreement to acquire Glycom A/S (Glycom), the world’s leading supplier of Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMO) for an enterprise value of €765 million (US$823 million).
HMOs are a collection of carbohydrate structures found in human breast milk. They act as prebiotics in infants, which help to develop the desired microbial flora by serving as feed for the good bacteria in the intestines. HMOs are essential for both immune and cognitive development.
Established in 2005, Glycom is a Danish company that pioneered the development and commercialisation of HMOs for Early Life Nutrition applications. The company operates a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Esbjerg, Denmark and is the only fully-integrated HMO provider in the world with its own product development, preclinical and clinical development, regulatory and large-scale production with an exciting innovation roadmap for next-generation HMOs. With an annual revenue of €74 million (US$80 million), Glycom’s sales is mainly derived from Nestle, and the latter will continue to be an important long-term contractual customer in the future.
DSM is a leading global solutions supplier to the Early Life Nutrition industry with its unique portfolio of nutritional lipids, vitamins and nutrient premixes. With the acquisition of Glycom, DSM adds HMOs to its portfolio, a novel high-growth ingredient for next generation Early Life Nutrition solutions.
With the acquisition, DSM can accelerate the growth of Glycom by offering HMO products to DSM’s broad global customer base and integrate it in its full solutions offering for Early Life Nutrition customers. Not only that, DSM can also assist Glycom by leveraging on its strong R&D platform to help develop next generation HMOs. In addition, DSM can also help diversify HMOs into broader segments that can include toddlers, children and adults, as well as into the medical nutrition and the pet food segments, creating additional growth potential.
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