Private equity firm buys Chr Hansen

The food acquisitive private equity firm PAI partners will pay €1.1bn for the ingredients unit (revenues 2004: €450m) of the Danish company Chr. Hansen. The company is noumber one in cultures and has strong market positions in natural colours, enzymes and flavours. According a statement of PAI, the current executive vice president Lars V. Frederiksen has already taken over the role of CEO from Erik Soerensen. Chr. Hansen came up for sale in November 2004 after its major stakeholder, the Lundbeck Foundation, decided to pull away from of the company to focus on the pharmaceutical unit.
PAI has made a host of acquisitions in the food sector, recently the ingredients company Diana-Ingredients, the French dairy products company Yoplait, UK biscuits manufacturer United Biscuits and Panzani Lustucru, a pasta sauce specialist.