LycoRed Group Acquires Vitan, Strengthening its Leadership Position in the Global Natural Carotenoids Market

BEER-SHEVA, Israel, July 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

LycoRed announces the acquisition of Vitan Ltd. based in the Dnepropetrovsk area of Ukraine. Vitan, founded in 2002, uses a unique, ecologically pure technology based on the use of an industrial microorganism, the blakeslea trispora fungus, which is a producer of natural carotenoids. Vitan's expertise is in fermentation of blakeslea trispora to produce beta carotene biomass and other types of carotenoid biomass.

"We are excited to add Vitan to the LycoRed family," says Morris Zelkha, CEO of LycoRed. "Vitan will add value to LycoRed, providing us unique access to sourcing and improving our ability to compete in the natural carotenoids global marketplace."

Vitan is a global leader in beta-carotene biomass. Beta-carotene biomass is an essential raw material for production of beta-carotene-based products for various applications in food, food fortifications and dietary supplements. The biomass is a GMO-free product.

"LycoRed, which is famous for leading the natural lycopene worldwide, will now have also a clear advantage offering natural beta carotene and being a fully backward-integrated manufacturer for natural colors, beadlets for dietary supplements and more, offering stability and quality throughout its supply chain," added Zelkha.

LycoRed is a science-based company with regional facilities in the U.S., Europe, China and Israel. It supplies natural carotenoids and a wide range of other natural nutritional and colouring ingredients to the dietary supplement, functional food & beverage and nutricosmetic industries worldwide.

For more information please contact:

Shai Givon                    
CFO
LycoRed            
Website http://www.lycored.com
Email: info@lycored.com
Tel: +972-732327508