Cargill to boost natural beauty biz with Floratech acquisition
Cargill is not new to the beauty ingredients business; but the acquisition of Floratech will mean a significant expansion of the company’s portfolio of naturals and ingredients derived from natural inputs.
“This acquisition will mark an important milestone in Cargill’s effort to expand its Beauty business and will strengthen both companies’ shared vision to unleash beauty sustainably,” says Colleen May, president of Cargill Bioindustrial, in her remarks to the press about the deal. (The bioindustrial division of Cargill is about bio-based alternatives to petroleum-based chemical compounds known as polyols, and serves a range of industrial and consumer industries, including food and beverage, pharma, transportation, agriculture, and beauty.)
“This partnership,” says May, “will accelerate our combined growth, maximize value for customers by building industry-leading capabilities focused on nature-derived solutions, and help those customers shift their portfolio from synthetic chemicals to more sustainable ingredients.”
Floratech deal brings 45 years of natural emollient and jojoba derivatives expertise to Cargill
Floratech specializes in waxes, liquids, and emulsifiers—particularly those derived from jojoba, moringa, macadamia and those in bead-form (used in personal care product formulations as an alternative to plastic microbeads or other scrub ingredients). And there are numerous ingredients in the company’s portfolio that are COSMOS and/or ECOCERT certified.
“This is an exciting step for our Beauty business,” says Bente Korsgaard Andersen, Managing Director of Beauty at Cargill Bioindustrial, in her comments on this week’s acquisition announcement.
“Floratech is a key player in the beauty industry,” she says, “and their expertise in specialty beauty ingredients is particularly impressive. Our combined capabilities will be essential to delivering new and innovative beauty solutions to customers that want nature-derived, sustainable ingredients.”
Scaling the Floratech beads, emollients, and esters business
Steve Brown, who’s led the privately owned company since its founding in 1975, is content with the deal: “We are thrilled to join the Cargill team,” says Brown in this week’s media release.
“This partnership will bring even more sustainable value to cosmetics and personal care formulations around the world,” he says, emphasizing that, “Floratech has a long history of developing plant-based sustainable ingredients at levels of quality and functionality superior to the synthetic products they replace.”
And, “Cargill’s long-established position as an agricultural powerhouse will not only sustain but accelerate that success,” adds Brown, hinting at how a multinational corporation like Cargill can multiply the reach of a smaller business like Floratech.
