18 INTERVIEW
TP: Evonik has been highly active with acquisitions in the personal care sector, such as cosmetic delivery company Infinitec Activos. What are your plans for Infinitec? YH: Cosmetic delivery systems are very interesting because they make active ingredients even more efficient. This is something that has been used for decades in the pharmaceutical industry in order to bring products to the right point of absorption. In the cosmetic industry, it’s a
little bit newer but it’s extremely powerful. You can formulate, for example, products with smaller ingredient quantities and fewer side effects. Or you can formulate products
with fewer active ingredients and a higher efficiency. That’s the key selling point of delivery systems. With the acquisition of
Infinitec, combined with the acquisition that we are made in 2017 of Air Products PMD with their delivery systems technology ROVI, we have essentially combined those two businesses and created a leader in delivery systems for cosmetic active ingredients. The message is clearly about
growth. We’re investing more in innovation, and we’re expanding our R&D centre in Barcelona for that purpose in order to be able to perform even more customer projects. Delivery system technology
is not just about our own ingredients. We work with our customers’ actives and develop the next generation products with them. We have a lot of customer projects. So, we are developing our own
new products and new solutions that include Evonik actives with delivery systems, but we also work with actives of other companies.
TP: Evonik also acquired Botanica in October 2021. What are your plans for them? YH: Botanica is a botanical extracts company. The particularly interesting thing about Botanica is that not only is the sourcing very sustainable but so is the manufacturing process. So what we offer are botanical
extracts with very strong sustainability with essentially everything in the supply chain checked throughout. It’s a technology that allows us to develop and launch a lot
of new products - we’re talking about 20-30 products minimum per year with this platform, and we intend to accelerate that. We are combining that with
our other technologies. So, for example, with the acquisition of innoHealth in 2020, it allows us to develop scientific claims and offer added value to our clients.
TP: In May, Evonik announced ‘Next Generation Evonik’ (see News, page 9). What does it mean for the personal care business? YH: We feel we are already on track to becoming a sustainable speciality partner, but what Next Generation Evonik offers is additional resource in order to fulfil that strategy. Not just for Evonik’s Care
Solutions business line but also for the Nutrition & Care division to which it belongs. We are essentially focusing
on three divisions with additional resources: Specialty Additives, Nutrition & Care and Smart Materials. Some of our other businesses are for sale and those.
PERSONAL CARE July 2022
TP: Evonik has announced plans to invest more than €3 billion by 2030 across those three divisions. Are you looking at more acquisitions in the personal care space? YH: We are always looking and that should be of no surprise. If there is more cash available within the company, it’s always an option to invest into additional acquisitions to continue our portfolio transformation.
TP: Would that include looking at acquiring a rival ingredient maker? Is there something missing within the Evonik portfolio that you’d like to add in terms of technology? YH: Right now, I think we’ve completed our portfolio. There are always opportunities to add it, and that’s what we’re looking into.
We don’t comment too much on our acquisition strategy but it’s clear that that we will be developing our portfolio and that will come from innovation and from acquisitions.
PC
www.personalcaremagazine.com
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