Bioseutica did not specify why it had chosen to sell the business at this time but retains a 155 stake and will continue to staff the facility in Bexbach, Germany, although a new manager will be appointed.
Bioseutica VP in business development, Peter Lembke, told us the undisclosed deal would see Capiton invest in the pharma standard plant to significantly expand output of oils.
“Capiton will invest heavily in the capacity expansion of KD,” he said.
“The goal is to increase the production capacity up to 2000 metric tonnes per annum of omega-3 concentrates, which will convert KD Pharma into a global player among high concentrated, omega-3 and API producers.”
“First stage of the expansion will be completed by the end of this year.”
Max capacity
Bioseutica said KD Pharmawas currently running at maximum capacity due to an increase in pharma sector orders.
KD Pharma employs a patented ‘gentle extraction’ supercritical fluid technology called ‘KD pür’ to achieve its purity levels up to 99%.
Bioseutica said further bank financing would be considered for further expansion at the site.
Algae
Last year, KD Pharma inked a deal with US microalgal oils firm BioProcess Algae to supply it with ultra-concentrated EPA-rich omega-3 oils for nutraceutical and pharma applications.
"At the moment more than 90% is still from fish oils. However we hope to increase the algae-oil ratio in the near future depending on its availability on the market," Lembke said.
KD Pharma was established in 1988 and originally specialised in separation technologies for the synthetic sugar, lactulose, for the pharma sector.
When that business was sold it shifted its energies to omega-3.
Market consolidation
The high-end omega-3 area has been busy of late with the likes of BASF last year paying €684m for high-end specialist Pronova, in addition to acquiring the Scottish start-up, Equateq (now BASF Callanish).
Lembke acknowledged as much in saying: "There is a lot of consolidation going on presently in the omega-3 market. In order to be able to stay a global leader in highly concentrated omega-3 oils we had to grow our capacity. Capiton gave us the chance to reach this next level."
Capiton manages manages more than €800m in funds spread over 14 medium-sized companies.