Novozymes’ Acquisitions & Integration department is the hub that drives the acquisition process – helping Novozymes to strengthen its business and to increase and improve our service offerings for our customers. But this is no easy process. First the right company needs to be discovered, then it needs to be purchased, and finally it must be integrated into the Novozymes family.

Making the perfect match
So what type of company is the right one to add that alluring extra value to Novozymes? Sometimes it is another company producing enzymes or microorganisms outside Novozymes’ established markets. On other occasions, the extra value comes from acquiring a new service, new technology, or the rights to an innovative product that would be of interest to our customers. But most importantly, the strategic fit between Novozymes and the prospective company should be just right – and these synergies should promise future profitability.

But the ideal company to acquire can be difficult to find. Novozymes has high expectations for its acquisitions, seeking an option that is well established and with a good customer portfolio while also having core competencies that strongly shadow Novozymes’ competencies in both R&D and production technology. And all this must come at a reasonable price.

Often even an apparently perfect acquisition candidate does not work out. “Acquisitions are 50% intelligence,” says Kristian Bjørneboe, Senior Director, Acquisitions & Integration. “On many occasions, after much research and negotiation, we discover an element that shows the company fit is not what we first imagined. It’s a learning process. But the Biocon acquisition and integration is a great example of one of our complete success stories, and we signed in October 2007, one year after our initial meeting.”

Brilliance through Biocon
The success of the Pectinex Ultra Mash launch stemmed from the fact that this first-mash solution not only extracted more juice from every apple, but was also truly different from every other first-mash enzyme out there. “One year after the acquisition of the Biocon enzyme business, we’ve reached the strategic objectives that we defined for the acquisition. We’re now really in a position to change the world together with our Indian customers, as we have undisputed market leadership in India, one of the most interesting growth markets in the world,” says Peter Stenbak, Integration Development Manager, Acquisitions & Integration, “and we’re now on the way to being the world’s largest producer of pectinases for Juice and Wine, carrying a strong new product portfolio.”

"We emerged from being the number one enzyme company in India to being part of the number one enzyme company in the world!"

 - Aindrila Dasgupta, Senior Manager, Novozymes South Asia Pvt. Ltd.

Excellent integration
The integration of Biocon is an example of a full-scale integration, where Biocon’s enzyme business became integrated 100% into the global Novozymes enzyme organization.

“As a rule of thumb, we say that the closer the new business is to Novozymes’ core business, the more integrated it becomes,” says Peter Stenbak, “but a good example of the opposite scenario is another recent acquisition – our new Canadian colleagues in the company formerly called Philom Bios, now known as the BioAg group of Novozymes Biologicals. They continue to run their company quite independently, only now as part of the Novozymes family, and this team creates the foundation of an all new and extremely promising business platform for our company.”

It’s all about the people
Of course, it is not only the prospective company that is of importance when considering an acquisition, but also the people who work there. It is vital that the employees match Novozymes in terms of both culture and values. Novozymes continuously seeks companies with great employees; it is these people who have successfully created the value of their company and who can continue to help Novozymes grow.

Biocon was no exception – but what was unique was that the employees within Biocon’s enzyme division also wished the integration into Novozymes. Before the deal came through, Biocon’s top management asked its middle management who their preferred take-over partner was; they all opted for Novozymes, the clear global market leader in their field. “We emerged from being the number one enzyme company in India to being part of the number one enzyme company in the world!” states Aindrila Dasgupta, Senior Manager in Novozymes South Asia Pvt. Ltd. “Our relatively small and predominantly sales-related organization is now a full-fledged Novozymes subsidiary, and that’s something to be proud of.”

Working together towards a firm future
The route to reinforcing Novozymes’ continuous growth through acquisitions is one that the Acquisitions & Integration team cannot manage alone. “We have a close partnership with the finance department,” says Kristian Bjørneboe. “We find the new company and they buy it.” With a global financial crisis on our door step, will this daring team continue to make their daring business decisions? “People are afraid to sell right now – they are afraid they won’t get a good price,” explains Kristian Bjørneboe, “but we’re considering some exciting different approaches and have set ourselves some interesting targets.”

So 2009 and 2010 look certain to be bright and bold years for the team behind Novozymes’ growth and expansion into new and exciting markets through acquisitions.