German flavour and scent maker Symrise is focusing its acquisition strategy on food technology start-ups in the Americas, Asia and in emerging markets - a particular target for sales growth, its chief executive told a German newspaper.
"We are focusing on smaller additions, for instance of start-ups with good technology," Welt am Sonntag quoted Heinz-Juergen Bertram as saying in an interview due out on Sunday.
As part of its diversification into nutritional supplements, Symrise bought a 12 percent stake in Sweden's probiotics manufacturer Probi and a minority stake in Swedish food ingredient developer Indevex Biotech.
Symrise aims to boost the proportion of sales from developing economies - the industry's fastest growing market - to about two thirds by 2020 from 50 percent now, he said. Group revenues were 1.7 billion euros ($2.3 billion) last year.
In the $20 billion fragrance and flavour market, Symrise ranks fourth after Givaudan, IFF and unlisted Firmenich. It sells cosmetic ingredients and scents that go into creams, shampoos and detergents made by groups such as Unilever , Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive.
