Basel, 3 April 2008 – Lonza announces a new capacity expansion in its Life Science Ingredients business. In line with its long-term strategy for Nutrition Ingredients, the company will expand its manufacturing capacity for nicotinates in order to meet growing market demand and to fulfil long-term customer commitments.
Nicotinates, including both nicotinic acid and nicotinamide, are vitamin B3 supplements used in the food, animal feed, and pharmaceutical industries.
The new facility will provide an additional 15’000 metric tons of product per year, representing an increase of more than 40% over current capacity. Lonza will invest approximately CHF 50 million in the construction of the new nicotinate plant over the next three years in order to strengthen its global leadership position. The capacity will be added in phases, with the first phase expected to come on-line in 2010, followed by full operation in 2011. The investment is in line with the company’s overall capital investment plans.
Options for the location of the new manufacturing site are currently under evaluation. Current manfucturing plants for Nicotinates are located in Visp (Switzerland), Guangzhou (China), and Nansha (China). The decision will take into consideration the location of new market growth as well as opportunities for manufacturing and market synergies. The new facility will also take advantage of very promising innovations in technology and process development that are currently in pilot operations. These innovations will provide cost and efficiency advantages to all the company’s nicotinate facilities.
Lukas Utiger, Executive Vice President and Head of Lonza Life Science Ingredients, comments: “The new capacity in nicotinates is important for us to be able to meet the long-term demands of our customers. In addition, we are excited about the continued implementation of technologies and new processes that will secure our long-term cost leadership in this market."