Gist-Brocades Expands Interests In Mexico And Egypt

Gist-Brocades of the Netherlands has increased its majority participating interest of 50.8% in Aco-pharma SAE, a joint venture in Egypt, and of 51% in Orfaquim Gist-Brocades SA de CV, a joint venture based in Mexico, to 100% in both cases.

Orfaquim processes raw penicillins into various kinds of sterile penicillins for human and veterinary applications, destined for the local market as well as for export. Acopharma produces semi-synthetic penicillins for the Egyptian and export markets.

The expanded shareholdings are said to be in line with Gist-Brocades' long-term strategy to achieve market leadership as a supplier of bulk finished products to industry through internationalization and upstream integration. Gist-Brocades is one of the world's leaders in yeast and bakery ingredients, antibiotics and food and feed enzymes, products emanating from large-scale fermentation processes. Net turnover last year was around $1.12 billion.