TUNISIA – Spanish flavour and fragrance company, Iberchem Group has opened a new production center in Tunisia under its flavour division known as Scentium.
The new facility, located at the country’s capital Tunis, covers nearly 700 square metres and is fully equipped for the production of liquid and powder flavours as well as emulsions, reports Foodbev.
The site neighbours its flavour division and features a production plant, two warehouses, application labs, testing rooms, administration offices and extra room to accommodate the planned growth of the company.
“Our new flavour centre in Tunis is a testimony to the substantial growth Scentium has been experiencing in recent years, both locally and globally.”
José Manuel Mateos – General manager of Scentium
With the new investment, Iberchem Group will better serve its local customers in the MENA region whose market size is forecast to reach US$2.02 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 6.3% during the forecast period 2020-2025, according to a report by Industry Arc.
“Our new flavour centre in Tunis is a testimony to the substantial growth Scentium has been experiencing in recent years, both locally and globally,” said José Manuel Mateos, general manager of Scentium.
“It represents a cornerstone of our global expansion plan. It will allow us to offer faster production and delivery times to our local customers, who were previously looked after from our head office in Spain. It will also provide them with additional sales and technical assistance,” he added.
The move follows the company’s acquisition by speciality chemicals company Croda International for a total cash consideration of €820 million (about US$975 million) on a debt-free, cash-free basis.
Prior to the take-over, Iberchem was majority owned by French investment firm Eurazoe since 2017.
Following the acquisition, Iberchem has remained as an independent entity while collaborating with Croda teams on cross-selling and other revenue synergy opportunities.
Earlier this year, Iberchem Group announced the creation of Iberchem South Africa, bringing together the teams of Iberchem, Scentium and Versachem in a single entity in a bid to expand its presence in the South African market.
The announcement by the company comes two years after the group acquired 70% of Versachem, a company specialising in food colourants and seasonings.
It recently topped up the remaining 30%, thereby fully integrating Versachem’s activity into the Group’s portfolio.
All three divisions will be temporarily accommodated in Versachem’s current offices in Pretoria, north of Johannesburg, until a new location can be found.
The Iberchem Group first set foot in South Africa in the early 2000s.
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