Bedford Park, Ill./Press Release -- Naturex, a leader in specialty plant-based natural ingredients, agreed to acquire 100% of the capital of Chicago-based Vegetable Juices Inc.

This transaction meets the group's strategic criteria for external growth projects and is expected to strengthen its position as a multi-specialist of natural ingredients, particularly within the still highly fragmented and growing market of fruit and vegetable-based ingredients.

With a broad variety of vegetables available in multiple formats, Vegetable Juices Inc. develops technical and customized natural ingredients with nutritional and organoleptic properties (taste, texture, colors, etc.) Vegetable Juices Inc.'s expertise allows them to deliver custom solutions that suit various technical requirements of its customers.

The acquisition of Vegetable Juices Inc. will double the size of Naturex's food and beverage operations in the United States.

"We are very proud of this acquisition and delighted by the addition to our Group of the Vegetable Juices Inc. team that shares our values of excellence, technical and scientific innovation and customer-centric culture," commented Naturex's CEO, Thierry Lambert. "This acquisition is perfectly aligned with our strategy and will allow us to significantly strengthen our position in the United States, the world's largest food industry market. It will also offer us an excellent complementarity in terms of products to provide new momentum to our offering of fruit and vegetable-based ingredients (NAT F&V range) across our sales network."

Elizabeth Doyle, CEO of Vegetable Juices Inc. added, "We are extremely pleased with this acquisition by Naturex. Our companies' values are aligned. This acquisition will ensure business continuity, growth of the company and advancement of the values and work fostered by the Garvy family for so many years.”

Also commenting on this acquisition, Steve Wiley, COO of Vegetable Juices Inc., "We are very pleased to be joining Naturex Group. Vegetable Juices Inc. will have the opportunity to benefit from the significant development potential offered by combining our technical and scientific expertise, enhancing our product offering and maximizing our commercial presence.”