Royal DSM, a global science-based company in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living, completed its acquisition of Glycom A/S, the world’s leading supplier of Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMO) for an enterprise value of €765 million.
DSM is a leading global solutions supplier to the Early Life Nutrition industry with a unique portfolio including nutritional lipids, vitamins and nutrient premixes. With the acquisition of Glycom, DSM adds HMOs to its portfolio. The high-growth HMO market is set to deliver novel ingredients for next generation Early Life Nutrition solutions.
Glycom 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. As HMOs are believed essential for the development of immunity, cognitive and digestive functions, there is significant interest in HMOs for the dietary supplement market, unmet medical nutrition needs like irritable bowel syndrome, food & beverage applications and for pet foods.
Glycom is a Danish company with more than 150 employees, founded in 2005, that pioneered the development and commercialization 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. The company achieved €74 million of sales in 2019. These sales were pre-dominantly generated with Nestlé and Nestlé will continue to be an important customer in the future. The Nestlé contract is a mutually beneficial long-term contract with firmly committed volumes also covering the mid-term horizon.
This acquisition by DSM will be highly synergetic for both companies. 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. DSM can accelerate the HMO product development of Glycom by leveraging its strong R&D platform and clinical competencies to support Glycom’s development of next generation HMOs. DSM can furthermore introduce HMOs in other segments outside the Early Life Nutrition market, for instance for toddlers, children and adults, as well as in the medical nutrition and the pet food segments, creating additional growth potential.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 