DSM to expand omega-3 portfolio with Ocean Nutrition acquisition

Royal DSM, the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Clearwater Fine Foods and funds managed by Richardson Capital to acquire Ocean Nutrition Canada for a total enterprise value of CAD 540 million. Subject to customary conditions, the transaction is expected to close in H2 2012.

Ocean Nutrition Canada is a Canada-based supplier of fish-oil derived Omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) to the dietary supplement and food and beverage markets. The company is headquartered in Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada) with approximately 415 employees. Ocean Nutrition Canada, founded in 1997, has production sites in Canada, the United States and Peru. Every day over 21 million servings of its MEG-3? product line are consumed in supplements and foods and beverages across the world. Net Sales for 2012 are expected at approximately CAD 190 million with an EBITDA of CAD 55-60 million. The average annual growth of the company over the past 5 years in local currency amounted to nearly 20%.

Strategic rationale

Supported by a growing body of scientific evidence, healthy PUFAs such as omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to provide significant health benefits supporting, for example, brain health, eye and cardiovascular health throughout life. Leading experts worldwide have noted that healthy PUFAs such as DHA, EPA and ARA are important nutrients for health throughout all stages of life, yet many consumers do not include enough in their daily diets. The rapidly growing nutritional lipids category is at an early stage yet well established and is based on strong science, offering significant growth opportunities across a broad range of market segments and applications.

Ocean Nutrition Canada is the world's largest supplier of fish-derived Omega-3 fatty acids to the dietary supplement and food and beverage markets. Ocean Nutrition Canada's fish derived Omega-3 products are highly complementary to DSM's microbial DHA and ARA products as they address different customer needs and reach different market segments.

Given the very different value proposition and pricing of fish oil derived PUFAs (naturally occurring mixtures of DHA and EPA) compared to microbial derived PUFAs (DHA and ARA), these products do not compete. The acquisition of Ocean Nutrition Canada extends DSM's portfolio of Omega-3 fatty acids reaching a wide range of different market segments and applications.

The acquisition will allow DSM to strengthen and complement its newly established, global NutritiWomens Nike Cortez