ITERG acquires IMPROVE strengthening of research into oils and proteins
ITERG has just acquired 92.2% of the shares of SAS IMPROVE, a R&D platform dedicated to the valorisation of vegetable proteins.
ITERG thus forms a group comprising the Industrial Technical Centre and SAS IMPROVE and becomes a key player in applied research in the vegetable oil and protein sectors.
This new entity will develop applied research on all vegetable oils and proteins and will offer to its customers a complete range of services: research, production, analysis and expertise for industries producing and using lipids and proteins from plant-based origin. This enlarged offer will be focused on its values and assets, which are scientific excellence, industrial expertise and innovation in the service of the naturalness of products and the sustainability of processes.
Today, the group represents €10 to €11 million in activity for 110 employees, with a real capacity for growth in the joint offer thus created.
This acquisition is in line with the plant protein strategy announced on December the 1st by the French Minister of Agriculture and Food, which defines the major orientations for the oil, plant-based protein and livestock sectors over the next ten years and which forecasts a 40% increase in France in the surface area (i.e. more than 400,000 ha) of protein crops over the next three years.
Two minority shareholders (3.9% of the shares each) remain associated with the capital of SAS IMPROVE: Picardie Energie et Développement Durable and Brie Picardie Expansion. These two regional investors will contribute to the territorial anchoring of SAS IMPROVE held by ITERG.
« With a unique set of skills and equipment in Europe, the ambition of this new ITERG entity is to become the international reference centre in the field of expertise and valorisation of oilseeds and protein crops for the French vegetable oil and protein industry« , says its president Yves DELAINE.
« By capitalising on the expertise of the two teams, this is a new stage for ITERG and its subsidiary IMPROVE with real oportunites for development in France and abroad, » emphasises Guillaume CHANTRE, ITERG’s Managing Director.
Contact: Claudie GESTIN, Communication Manager
c.gestin@iterg.com
Tel: 0607716027
About ITERG
ITERG is the Industrial Technical Centre specialised in the field of fats and related products (fats, vegetable oils, oil co-products and minor compounds). The Centre has nearly 90 employees at the Canéjan site (33). ITERG offers research, production, analysis and expertise infrastructures to help strengthen innovation and transfer. It thus plays an active role in the competitiveness of the industrial fabric, from upstream to downstream of the fat and related products sector.
About IMPROVE :
SAS IMPROVE is located in Dury near Amiens and employs around twenty people. The scientific expertise provided by IMPROVE in the field of plant-based proteins extends from fundamental research to market launch and contributes to accelerating the launch of new plant protein-based products, enabling breakthrough innovations that meet the needs of the market, and developing plant protein-based products with characteristics comparable or better (performance, price, availability, durability) than existing products.