Active Beauty advance: Givaudan to acquire cosmetics business of Italian botanical player Indena

The deal is expected to close in the first-quarter of 2020 and also features a long-term partnership agreement whereby Indena will continue to manufacture ingredients for Givaudan and provide innovation capabilities and support.

‘Almost a century of botanical experience’​

Headquartered in Milan, Indena is highly-specialised in plant-based actives – identifying, developing and producing ingredients for the personal care, pharmaceutical and health food sectors – and has more than 100 primary patents and thousands of published scientific studies.

Givaudan said that with “almost a century of botanical experience”,​ Indena had an extensive breadth of expertise and, importantly, remained focused on protecting biodiversity and the ecosystem from uncontrolled harvesting.

Laurent Bourdeau, head of Givaudan’s Active Beauty business, said Indena’s cosmetics business was a strong fit that would add “high quality”​ ingredients to Givaudan Active Beauty’s portfolio.

Maurizio Volpi, president of Givaudan’s fragrance division, agreed. “[Indena has] an excellent reputation in the market, thanks to the quality of their ingredients, their strong focus on innovation, as well as the mastering of their supply chain. It offers Active Beauty an expanded portfolio of plant-based ingredients that nicely complement our current portfolio. We are very confident that the acquisition will further enhance our position as a leading player in the active cosmetic ingredients industry.”​

For Indena, offloading its cosmetics business enabled a sharper focus on the company’s two core markets – pharmaceuticals and health food.

While full terms of the deal were undisclosed, Givaudan said Indena’s cosmetics business would have represented around €8m of incremental sales in Givaudan’s 2018 results on a proforma basis.

Plant-based vegan silk for hair care​

Earlier this month, Givaudan Active Beauty launched a plant-based vegan biomimetic silk for use in hair care. Made using white biotechnology, the ‘Silkgel’ originated from fermented plant starch.

The company said the ingredient aligned with consumer concerns about the planet and a burgeoning trend towards veganism and vegan beauty.

Givaudan acquired German-based industrial vegan silk biopolymer specialist AMSilk​ in May, this year as part of a push into biotech beauty.