The divestment, Corbion explained, follows its Advance 2025 strategy, announced in March 2020, focusing on further growing the company’s core competencies fermentation-based technologies, and – Corbion said in a statement – Kingswood has “significant experience in corporate carve-outs and investments related to food and beverage.”

With the takeover, Kingswood is expanding its portfolio with two production facilities in the USA and around 175 employees.

"We are confident that the emulsifier business will be in good hands under Kingswood’s stewardship and will receive strong support from their new owners. I want to thank our colleagues who have worked hard to develop our emulsifier business for many years, and we wish them great success in the years ahead,” said Corbion’s CEO, Olivier Rigaud.

Andy Muller, Corbion’s president of Sustainable Food Solutions, added: “We believe this deal matches our customers and employees with the right partners and leadership to help take them even further."

Alex Wolf, managing partner at Kingswood, commented: "Kingswood is excited to take this world-class emulsifiers business forward and build on its tremendous heritage by continuing to provide best-in-class service. We are delighted to partner with Corbion in creating the largest standalone pure-play emulsifiers business in North America."

"The unique and important benefits these products provide for manufacturers will allow emulsifiers to play a key role in meeting evolving needs in the global marketplace, both for food and non-food applications,” added Andrew Kovach, managing director at Kingswood.