Kerry acquires plant protein company

February 21, 2020, Naas, Ireland – Kerry Taste & Nutrition company is expanding its non-allergenic and organic plant protein capability by acquiring Spanish company Pevesa Biotech.

The acquisition enhances Kerry’s leadership position in the hydrolysed plant protein space for specialized nutrition, and expands the company’s capacity to serve the rapidly growing, high-quality, organic plant protein market.

Pevesa is a global leader in non-allergenic, non-GMO plant proteins for the infant, general and clinical nutrition markets. The company offers a range of plant proteins, including organic pea and rice protein and protein hydrolysates and is a European leader in non-allergenic plant proteins for infant nutrition.

Pevesa has also developed a range of organic and standard biofertilizers for fruit, olive and specialist garden growers, and has had a strong corporate focus for many years on developing sustainable solutions to important nutrition, health, biowaste and agricultural challenges.

“Kerry is extremely pleased to bring the global expertise of Pevesa into our leading plant protein portfolio,” John Reilly, VP business development proteins at Kerry, said in a press release. “Kerry was attracted to Pevesa because of its expertise, innovation, high-quality manufacturing leadership, and patented technology in the non-allergenic plant protein market.

“This will be a good fit with Kerry’s growing plant protein product portfolio, and Pevesa’s customers will benefit from the synergy between its market-leading technology and Kerry’s protein processing expertise.”

Kerry said in the press release that the growing inclination of consumers toward natural and plant-based products has been fueling the explosive demand for plant-based foods over the last few years and, as consumers reduce their consumption of dairy and soya proteins, rice and pea protein have become two of the fastest-growing plant protein segments globally.

The global plant proteins ingredient market is projected to grow at 6.6 per cent per annum from 2018 to 2023. The organic rice protein market was estimated at $42 million in 2018 while the organic pea protein market was valued at $11 million in 2018.

Kerry Taste & Nutrition is an international food industry leader, with offices in 32 countries, 151 manufacturing facilities and employs 26,000 people globally.