French food ingredients company Rhodia, through its subsidiaries Rhodia Food and Rhodia Japan, announced this week that it has formed a joint venture with Organo Corporation, a supplier of processing food products , to develop and sell food ingredients and food additives to the Japanese market.
Under terms of the agreement Organo holds a 51 per cent stake in the new company, Rhodia Organo Food Tech, and Rhodia, 49 per cent. Both companies hope that by combining their state-of-the-art technologies and research and development capabilities, they should achieve a high synergy in their food business.
The new company, located in Japan, will primarily target the local market and hopes to become a significant player in the fields of texture ingredients, natural extracts and nutraceuticals.
Rhodia generated net sales of €7.2 billion in 2001 and employs 27,000 people worldwide. Rhodia is listed on the Paris and New York stock exchanges. The food businesses of Organo, a water treatment engineering company, provide over 500 types of processing food products for the meat, noodle, fish paste, beverage and confectionery industries.