FMC Will Acquire ISP Alginates

FMC has agreed to buy International Specialty Products' alginates and food blends business. The transaction will include ISP's Girvan, Scotland, manufacturing facility but not the Germinal food ingredient blending business based in Brazil. ISP entered the alginates business in 1999 when it purchased Monsanto's Kelco alginates unit. FMC says it will integrate ISP's operation, which had $80 million in sales last year, into its existing alginates business to improve geographic reach, cost competitiveness, and production efficiencies. Alginates are seaweed-derived biopolymers used as gelling agents in foods, drinks, and cosmetics.