DSM-Firmenich divests its Animal Nutrition and Health business
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The Dutch-Swiss group DSM-Firmenich announced that it will sell its animal nutrition and health business to the investment fund CVC Capital Partners based on an enterprise value of €2.2 billion. A move that marks the completion of the group’s strategic transformation towards the nutrition, health, and beauty markets for human use.
With this sale, the group is completing its refocusing on its ingredients business for the food, health, and hygiene and beauty products sectors. The group had already sold its animal feed enzymes business to Denmark’s Novonesis in 2025 for €1.5 billion.
This transaction with CVC Capital Partners “marks the final step” in this refocusing, said DSM-Firmenich CEO Dimitri de Vreeze, quoted in the press release. The sale is expected to generate a gain of up to half a billion euros, according to the group, which plans to launch a share buyback programme. DSM-Firmenich stated that this division, which specializes in animal nutrition and health and employs around 8,000 people, generated sales of approximately €3.5 billion in 2025.
The group has signed an agreement with the investment fund for the sale, which is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, it said in a statement. However, it will retain a 20% stake in these animal nutrition and health businesses.
Firmenich was a Swiss fragrance and flavor creation company founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1895. In May 2023, the company joined the DSM-Firmenich group following the merger with the Dutch company DSM. Listed on Euronext Amsterdam, DSM-Firmenich is one of the leading manufacturers of flavors and aromas for the food industry, as well as fragrances and scents for fine perfumery and hygiene products. In 2024, the group based in Kaiseraugst, in the Swiss canton of Aargau, and Maastricht, in the Netherlands, generated annual sales of nearly €12.8 billion. It employs around 30,000 people worldwide and is one of the main competitors of Switzerland’s Givaudan, the US’s International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF), and Germany’s Symrise.
➡️ Source: Press Release | 📸 © Firmenich