IFF Lucas Meyer Cosmetics invests to pick up more active cosmetic and botanical extracts

20-Jul-2016 - Last updated on 21-Jul-2016 at 15:44 GMT

This week the company announced its investment in the materials development company Bio ForeXtra, a logical move given last year’s acquisition of Lucas Meyer and IFF’s intention to fortify its cosmetic ingredients business.

It was this time just last year when IFF made its move to buy the personal care ingredients company for over $300m.

At the time, financial analysts rightly observed that “The company focuses on investing in acquisitions to gain access to new customers, regions and technologies;” this, from zacks.com. “A diverse portfolio and product mix, along with new business wins, should help the company deliver solid results in the quarters ahead.”

And indeed, when the company reported on its 2015 full-year financial results in February of this year IFF saw a 5% (currency neutral) increase in overall sales, for which the Lucas Meyer acquisition got its fair share of credit.

In the fragrance business unit, sales (again, on currency neutral basis) were up 4% in 2015. And the company acknowledged at the time that this figure “[includes] approximately 1 percentage point related to the acquisition of Lucas Meyer Cosmetics.”

Strategic spending

On the company home page, Bio ForeXtra describes the business as one that “develops, manufactures and markets active ingredients and extracts obtained only from forest biomass. Our extracts are new natural active ingredients and high quality eco-friendly intended to be formulated in cosmetics and personal care.”

IFF Lucas Meyer’s investment in Bio ForeXtra is premised on that regional sourcing of botanical ingredients: “This investment is aligned with our Vision 2020 business strategy pillar of Strengthening and Expanding our Portfolio,” Andreas Fibig, IFF’s chairman and CEO, tells the press. “We can create differentiation in the cosmetic actives business by providing unique benefits to consumers, which is increasingly important in a highly competitive market. We believe the access we will gain to sustainably sourced extracts from the Boreal Forest of Canada will provide us with a competitive edge.”

Having a portfolio of ingredients that align with current beauty product formulation trends is wisely part of the IFF Lucas Meyer strategy just now too: “The Company develops, manufactures and markets innovative ingredients for the cosmetics and personal care industry, …ingredients…that address health and wellness macro-trends in the beauty industry in both the developed and emerging markets,” notes the press release about this latest deal.

No details regarding the terms of the deal have been released.