Danstar Ferment acquires Turkey’s first and only domestic industrial enzyme producer

TURKEY – Swiss manufactures and supplier of food ingredients, Danstar Ferment AG, has completed an equity investment in Turkey’s ‘first and only’ domestic industrial enzyme producer, Livzym Biotechnologies.

Livzym has over the last nine years developed a range of enzymes for mainly food and animal feed applications based on their fungi-based technology platform.

They recently commissioned an enzyme plant in Tuzla near Istanbul, Turkey, that provides enzyme production capabilities.

According to Danstar Ferment,the investment in Livzym will contribute to financing the expansion of the Tuzla plant to meet the growing demand for enzymes.

As part of the strategic collaboration, Lallemand will market and distribute Livzym enzymes to customers worldwide and will involve cooperation around the development and production of the enzymes in Turkey.

Danstar Ferment AG is a Swiss subsidiary of Lallemand, a major global producer of yeast, which in 2019, entered the baking enzyme market with its proprietary ‘LallZyme’ range based on its yeast technology.

Lars Asferg, president of Lallemand Bio-Ingredients, said: “The strategic collaboration with Livzym and its fungal development and production platform perfectly complements our position within the enzymes sector. The Inclusion of Livzym’s enzymes within Lallemand’s portfolio will enable us to provide our customers with an exciting range of high-performance enzymes.”

Dr. Serdar Uysal, founder and chief executive officer of Livzym explained that the company is the first industrial enzyme producer to be based in Turkey enabling us to service customers across the Europe, Asia, Middle East and African regions.

“We are very excited about our strategic investment partnership with Lallemand, a leading global fermentation company, seeing it as a significant opportunity to advance sustainability and enzyme and alternative protein technologies through our precision fermentation capabilities,” he added.

Lallemand has since expanded its enzyme presence with acquisitions of the BASF Nutrilife food and Spartec bio-fuel enzymes businesses, recently.

BASF divested its bioenergy enzymes business based in San Diego Danstar Ferment AG and Lallemand Specialties Inc.

This includes the Spartec product portfolio and related technologies in development. Lallemand said it will integrate the business and associated employees in its Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits (LBDS) business unit.

Lallemand has partnered with BASF’s bioenergy business since 2017, jointly developing the expression of gluco and alpha amylase enzymes in bioengineered yeast, now widely used in the North American ethanol production market.

After the takeover, BASF said it will remain focused on its enzyme activities in the animal feed and detergents markets. In addition, it will continue to provide agronomic solutions for farmers to produce low-carbon intensity crops for the bioenergy industry.

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