ORLANDO, Fla.—Valensa International announced that its parent company, EID Parry, has acquired Alimtec SA, a Chile-based company of the Bayer AG Group. Alimtec had been a supplier of astaxanthin to Valensa for more than two years. With this acquisition, Valensa will be able to expand its natural astaxanthin offering as part of a its portfolio of advanced formulated human health products including joint health, cardio and eye health products. Alimtec has infrastructure in place to produce four times its current production of astaxanthin.  This move follows Valensa’s announcement of two U.S.-sourced astaxanthin supply agreements in late 2013 and a recent announcement by the company that it will begin offering and formulating ZanthinNEX nature-equivalent astaxanthin by the end of 2014.

“Valensa has been in the astaxanthin business for over a decade, a decade in which we have been instrumental in developing the best quality, and only U.S.-made astaxanthin, as well as developing the science of astaxanthin in support of a number of human health applications," said Rudi E. Moerck, Ph.D., CEO of Valensa. “The demand for this remarkable substance has grown to the point where we can no longer be subject to the existing farming techniques to gain access to our important raw materials. We are significantly diversifying our source of supply. This acquisition, along with our production in India, our U.S.-based supply agreements and the development of our ZanthinNEX nature-equivalent form will ensure our ability to include astaxanthin in a broad range of exciting human health formulations moving into the future."

Valensa produces domestically grown algae and uses U.S.-based extraction.  The certified organic extraction facility operated by Valensa is located in Florida and does not extract shellfish or other known allergens.