DSM Will Purchase U.S. Nutrition Firm

DSM has agreed to acquire Schenectady, N.Y.-based Fortitech, a producer of ingredient blends for the food and dietary supplement industries, for $634 million in cash. Fortitech, which has 520 employees, expects to generate sales of about $270 million next year. DSM predicts that the deal will enable the firm to save $70 million, primarily by avoiding capital expenditures, and that it will bring cost savings of 10% of sales by 2015. The acquisition is set to push annual sales of DSM’s nutrition division to about $6 billion. In the past two years, DSM has announced $3.6 billion worth of acquisitions, of which $3.1 billion has been in the nutrition field.