Minafin launches Minagro, new business unit targeting green and safer ingredients for agribusiness industry

Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, March 13, 2019 – The Minafin Group, a developer and manufacturer of fine chemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), today announces the launch of Minagro, a new global business unit dedicated to developing and marketing greener and safer ingredients for the crop care industry. Minafin, which over the last 15 years has developed green chemicals with applications in many user markets, created Minagro to leverage the Group’s skills and experience in this field.

Minagro will direct this expertise to help agrochemical and crop care companies meet the all-important challenges of improving the global impact of farming on the environment and enhancing food quality. A key objective of Minagro is advising agribusiness firms in finding those greener solutions most suited to their operations. It will be the first business entity in Europe to offer, under one roof, a full-range of bio-based ingredients for the agricultural industry.

“We see Minagro as a significant opportunity to leverage the Minafin Group’s R&D and production capabilities in sustainable chemistry and to pursue our development of bio-based ingredients for the agriculture industry,” said Frédéric Gauchet, president of the Minafin Group. “We are conscientious about improving crop production efficiency, agricultural sustainability and plant resilience. Minagro will support the agri-players in overcoming these challenges.”

Minagro’s entry into agribusiness comes at a time when the market for biopesticides and biostimulants is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15.4% and 10.4% to reach $6.6 bn and $3.29 bn (€5.9/2.9bn) respectively in 2022.

Minagro will focus on developing a range of green ingredients such as solvents, preservative formulations and active botanical extracts, as well as on providing its customers with ‘applications support’. Those substances found in nature, such as essential oils and botanical extracts, are known to be effective in small doses and tend to pose fewer risks in crop care than conventional chemicals.

Under the leadership of Emmanuel Peulens, managing director of Minafin’s Green Chemical Users businesses, new appointees Bassam Tannir, global business unit manager, Karen Van der Sande, senior project manager and Arnold de Maere, sales and marketing manager, will spearhead Minagro’s developments and market growth. Together, this core team brings a combined 50 years’ agrochemical experience, a strong market network and a range of technical expertise.

”Minagro welcomes Bassam, Karen and Arnold at a dynamic time, when around the world consumer trends in food are changing, environmental safety regulations are increasing and the appeal of green-sourced products is growing,’ said Emmanuel Peulens. “We look forward to engaging with customers across Europe, the US and beyond on providing green solutions well-adapted to their needs and conditions, as well as guiding them towards eco-certification.”

Within its applications support laboratories, Minagro will offer customers a unique service that includes a micro-biology laboratory and technical services to validate the protection of agro-formulation. Its customers will also benefit from a wide choice of nature-derived formulants.

Minagro’s laboratories, commercial and administration offices are located in Louvain-la-Neuve, 20km south-east of Brussels. The company will be officially launched at the New Ag International Conference and Exhibition, taking place on March 27-29 in Dublin, Ireland, booth #38.

Note to editors:

A plant biostimulant is any organic substance or microorganism based on natural resources that, when applied to plants, seeds or the root environment soil, can stimulate the natural processes of plants to improve their uptake of nutrients, their immunity and/or their tolerance to abiotic stress. Biostimulants have properties that can extend the shelf-life of perishable food and vegetables; they can improve water retention and buffer fragile items from shock/bruising during transportation.

About Minagro

Founded in 2019, Minagro supports agribusinesses by proposing greener solutions to improve the global impact of the agricultural sector. Minagro develops innovative products and solutions for crop care applications based on sustainable raw materials leveraging the strengths of the Minafin Group in green and fine chemicals. Minagro is an affiliate of the Minafin Group.

About Minafin

Founded in 2004, Minafin is a privately-held Belgian industrial company specialized in fine chemistry for the life sciences and the high-tech Industries. It generated more than €192M ($215M) in revenues in 2018 and employs 860 staff. Its activities include industrial subcontracting, development of chemical syntheses and industrial scale-up of custom-made processes as well as proprietary products with high added value for the pharmacy, cosmetic, agriculture and high-tech industries. The group has six manufacturing sites: two in the US, two in France, one in Germany and one in Belgium. The activities of the Group are organized in seven business units: Minasolve, Minakem, Minagro, Pennakem, Pressure Chemicals, Minascent and EcoXtract

www.minafin.com