DuPont Acquires Danisco For $6.3 Billion

Posted by Matt Hopkins|10 January 2011

WILMINGTON, Del., United States — DuPont has acquired Danisco, a Danish-based global enzyme and specialty food ingredients company, for $5.8 billion in cash and $500 million of Danisco’s net debt, according to a press release.

Danisco and DuPont are already joint venture partners in the development of cellulosic ethanol technology. DuPont’s acquisition will allow the company to increase research to eliminate global challenges in food production and reduced fossil fuel consumption, according to DuPont.

“Danisco has two well-positioned global businesses that strongly complement our current biotechnology capabilities, R&D pipeline, and specialty food ingredients, a combination that offers attractive long-term financial returns,” said DuPont Chair and CEO Ellen Kullman in a prepared statement. “This also would create new opportunities across other parts of the DuPont portfolio, including traditional materials science offerings.”

Danisco offers specialty food ingredients, including enablers, cultures and sweeteners which generate about 65 percent of total sales. Genencor, its enzymes division, represents 35 percent of total sales.

“This transaction is a perfect strategic fit with our growth opportunities and will help us solve global challenges presented by dramatic population growth in the decades to come, specifically related to food and energy,” Kullman said. “In addition, biotechnology and specialty food ingredients have the potential to change the landscape of industries, such as substituting renewable materials for fossil fuel processes and addressing food needs in developing economies, that will generate more sustainable solutions and create growth for the company.”