Angel Yeast spreading its wings: China firm expanding via acquisitions and production investment
The company has announced plans to acquire Bio Sunkeen in a RMB60 million (US$9.2 million) deal together with local investment corporation Shandong Lufa Holding company.
The acquisition is expected to complete in August, and would be held under a new joint venture company called Angel Yeast (Jining).
Bio Sunkeen is a China-based producer of yeast, food ingredients, animal feed and organic fertilizer.
According to Chen Hongwei, general manager of Angel Yeast (Jining), the company will utilise Bio Sunkeen’s existing facilities, with expansion plans in the future.
The joint venture project is in line with Angel’s 2025 strategy focusing on yeast biotechnology, nutrition and health products, and food ingredients.
Angel Yeast manufactures a range of products from baker’s yeast, food seasoning, yeast extract, animal nutrition, plant nutrition, microbial nutrition and enzymes.
Production expansion
Angel Yeast also recently announced plans to invest RMB24.52 million (US$3.7 million) in its Binzhou manufacturing plant.
Binzhou Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Angel Group, with an annual production capacity of 20,000 tons of fresh yeast, with plans to increase this to 30,000 tons.
The yeast is used for bakery, fermentation, microbial nutrition, animal nutrition, and plant nutrition applications.
Construction of this project will start in June 2021 and is expected to be completed and put into operation by March 2022.
According to Sang Bo, general manager of Binzhou Company, “After the implementation of the project, it can increase the diversity of feed products, meet the future market development needs of animal nutrition, microbial nutrition and other businesses while relieving the pressure of local environmental protection and improving the added value of by-products.”
The company also disclosed it was investing RMB 434 million (US$71 million) in another manufacturing site of Dehong in Yunnan Province, to produce an additional 15,000 tons of yeast extract annually.
It is estimated that the annual sales revenue will increase by RMB 261 million (US$40 million) after the completion of this project.
At present, Angel Yeast has 11 production bases in China, Egypt, and Russia, with a total yeast production capacity of more than 270,000 tons.
Angel yeast is the largest yeast company in Asia and the third largest in the world, behind Lesaffre (France) and AB Mauri (UK).
New R&D center
Earlier in June, the company unveiled its latest R&D center in Yichang City, Hubei Province in China, which was scheduled to open in February 2021.
The US$30 million center will house 1,500 people who will conduct research on yeast and biotechnology, particularly focusing on plant-based meat alternatives, food flavour enhancements, gut health and probiotics, clean nutritional sources for fermentation, immune health and sports nutrition, alternatives to antibiotics, and yeast production and sustainable development.
Angel Yeast estimates that over US$60 million will be allocated annually into scientific research.
Xiong Tao, chairman of Angel Yeast commented: "We are thrilled to open our new R&D complex after more than a year of planning and construction. We believe this project will further accelerate the advancement of Angel Yeast's innovation system in major industries, including yeast and yeast derivatives, healthy ingredients and raw materials, nutrition and healthcare, and non-yeast related biotechnologies."
Across the world, Angel Yeast has also established regional service centers to provide technical guidance for product applications in Egypt, Russia, and the Philippines.
Financials
In Q1 2021, Angel Yeast achieved an operating revenue of RMB 2.656 billion (US$409 million), a year-on-year increase of 29.55%.
The revenue growth mainly came from traditional demand for yeast, as well as yeast extracts for food seasonings and animal nutrition. In the first quarter of this year, sales of yeast extract products increased by 40% year on year, and sales of animal business products increased by 50%.
