Plant-based raw materials suppler Roquette has completed the acquisition of an unquantified majority stake in Indian pharmaceutical excipients and food ingredients producer Crest Cellulose from pharma packaging company Pravesha Industries, also based in India.

Going forward, Crest Cellulose will be operated as a joint venture between the two stakeholders, with Roquette having operative control.

Through the acquisition, the Lestrem, France-based company said it will be able to expand its offering of pharmaceutical excipients and nutraceuticals and strengthen its position as a supplier to the pharma industry and provider of natural-based pharmaceutical excipients.

In a statement, Roquette CEO Jean-Marc Gilson said that with the addition of the Crest Cellulose product portfolio his company will also enhance its geographic presence in Asia and address a global growing market.

An up to now privately owned company incorporated in 2012 and located in Hyderabad and in Nellore, India, Crest Cellulose manufactures a wide range of excipients to meet the growing demand from pharmaceutical market players.

Roquettte’s latest strategic acquisition follows its 2017 buy of Blanver Pharmaceutical’s excipients division, and the company said it also underpins the its commitment to increasing its footprint and proximity to customers in India.

In 2017, the market for pharmaceutical incipients was estimated S$33 billion and at the beginning of 2018 was seen as growing at over 10% per year. Currently, India supplies more than half of the global demand for various vaccines and 25% of all medicines in the world, according to Roquette.

Separately, Roquette and Waltham, Massachusetts, USA-based laboratory chemicals supplier Thermo Fisher Scientific have signed a distribution rights agreement for the French company’s portfolio of pharmaceutical ingredients in the US and Canada, to support the high growth potential in these markets.

The collaboration links the chemical storage and supply chain solutions of Doe & Ingalls, a brand of Thermo Fisher Scientific, with the pharmaceutical ingredients of Roquette.