Natural ingredient supplier Arysta LifeScience to be acquired

The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015. It will be financed using a combination of cash, equity and debt.

Arysta LifeScience has been owned since 2008 by a company backed by the European private equity firm Permira. The company's use of ME technology in 'DMI fungicide formulation' has been extensively used in cosmetics products.

The offer is reported to be about $3.5 billion, which will see Platform Specialty with an operating footprint in more than 100 countries and realize about $65 million in cost savings over the next three years.

Challenges for natural suppliers ​

The growing demand for suppliers to develop natural ingredients has revealed some challenging areas as strides are taken to deliver the natural positioning while retaining the performance required.

Amid all of the attention, suppliers have been under increasing pressure to develop natural ingredients to meet this demand.

Whilst some natural ingredient categories are very developed and sufficient alternatives have been found, some are more problematic.

Anna Ibbotson, industry manager, chemicals and materials at Kline, has highlighted hair fixative polymers as the most challenging category, concerning the development of effective, viable natural alternatives to hair products and fixatives.

With the exception of corn starch-based formulas, devising fixative properties from natural ingredients to replace their synthetic counterparts is proving to be a formidable challenge, she explained.

Other problem categories include surfactants, although Ibbotson pointed out natural alternatives in this segment are gaining traction particularly in the mass market product categories.