Darling Ingredients Inc., the world's leading company turning food waste into sustainable products and producer of renewable energy, is announcing that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the shares of Gelnex, a leading global producer of collagen products (including gelatin and collagen peptides), for approximately $1.2 billion USD in cash. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is anticipated to close in first quarter 2023.

Headquartered in Brazil with five facilities in South America and one in the United States, Gelnex has the capacity to produce 46,000 metric tons of collagen products annually, which it exports to more than 60 countries around the world, and employs about 1,200 employees.

"Driven by strong growth in demand for collagen products in the global health and nutrition market, we anticipate the collagen peptides market to double in the next five years," said Randall C. Stuewe, chairman and chief executive officer at Darling Ingredients. "Gelnex is a well-run business and will be immediately accretive. This acquisition will allow Darling to continue to grow its presence in the health and nutrition market and increases our production capacity for grass-fed bovine collagen in South America to help meet the future demand of our collagen customers worldwide."

With 11 state-of-the-art facilities on four continents around the world, Darling Ingredients' health brand Rousselot is a leading manufacturer and worldwide supplier of hundreds of collagen products made from bovine, porcine and fish sources.

"Collagen is the most abundant protein naturally found in the body, and it plays an increasing role in the health and nutrition market by consumers seeking benefits to their hair, nails, skin, joints, bones and muscles," Stuewe said. "Our versatile and high-quality collagen products can be used in a broad range of applications, including powder blends, capsules, tablets, nutritional bars, drinks, dairy, confectionery and more."

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as Darling Ingredients' exclusive financial advisor in connection with the transaction.

Darling Ingredients hosted a teleconference and webcast for investors at 11:00 a.m. on October 18, 2022.

A replay will be available two hours after completion of the call through October 25, 2022. To access the replay, please dial 877-344-7529 (U.S. callers), 855-669-9658 (Canada) and 412-317-0088 (International callers) and reference passcode 2178877. The live webcast and archived replay also can be accessed at http://ir.darlingii.com.

Source: Darling Ingredients Inc.