Roquette, a global leader in plant-based ingredients for Food, Nutrition and Health markets, announced the completion of the acquisition of a majority stake in Crest Cellulose, from Pravesha Industries, a major Pharma packaging company in India

The creation of this joint-venture will reinforce Roquette’s position as a major supplier to the pharmaceutical industry and a global leader in superior natural-based pharmaceutical excipients. The addition of Crest Cellulose’s know-how and production capabilities to Roquette’s strong expertise and track-record in the pharmaceutical excipients market will create new opportunities for both Roquette’s and Crest Cellulose’s customers and employees as the companies both share a commitment towards innovation, quality and excellence.

As a privately-owned company incorporated in 2012 and located in Hyderabad and in Nellore (India), Crest Cellulose takes pride in its robust infrastructure and technical platform. The company manufactures a wide range of superior excipients to address a strong and increasing demand in the pharmaceutical market.

This strategic investment allows Roquette to expand its offering of pharmaceutical excipients and nutraceuticals, following the acquisition of Blanver Pharmaceutical’s excipients division in 2017. It also underpins Roquette’s commitment to increasing its footprint and proximity to customers in India to serve the large and fast-growing pharmaceutical sector.

The size of this market was estimated at US$ 33 billion in 2017 and was growing at over 10% per year at the beginning of 2018. India supplies over half of the global demand for various vaccines, and 25% of all medicines in the world.

As the majority shareholder, Roquette will have a controlling stake and manage the day-to-day operations of Crest Cellulose.