Food safety and biosecurity company Kersia has announced the acquisition of Holchem from Ecolab. Holchem will now join Kersia’s global operations platform that spans across Northern Europe, North and South America, the Middle East and China in a move which Kersia says will make it Europe’s second largest food safety company. 

The acquisition of Holchem follows Kersia’s move into the UK livestock sector after it purchased Kilco, the animal health research company, back in July 2018.

Kersia and Holchem says the merger, supported by additional capital from private investment firm Ardian, will be able to benefit from major growth opportunities in the context of high global health and food safety standards

Sébastien Bossard, CEO of Kersia said: “We are thrilled to welcome the Holchem teams to the Group. Their DNA, the quality of their work, the experience of their employees, their solutions, their services, strongly oriented towards the food industry in the UK and Ireland, make them very complementary to our current operations.

“This merger will enable us to make new solutions and services available to Kersia’s customers throughout the world, and in the same way, will provide Holchem’s local teams and customers with Kersia’s solutions to help combat contamination by pathogens of the food chain in one of the world’s largest food processing regions. We look forward to working together with Holchem management team and employees and continuing Holchem’s successful development.”

Stuart Middleton, managing director of Holchem said: “Over the years, Holchem has built a prominent position in the hygiene and food safety solutions market in the UK and Ireland thanks to its comprehensive and innovative offering. We can be proud of what our managers and employees have achieved. We are very excited to join the Kersia Group of companies, which has become a global leader in food safety in a few years, and we look forward to contributing to Kersia Group’s growth, both in our home markets and globally. We believe that this important transaction will bring many opportunities to all our employees and our customers in the combined organisation.”