Alltech close to two acquisitions that will ‘triple’ annual sales

Dr Pearse Lyons, the Irish-born founder of animal nutrition business Alltech, says it is close to completing two "game-changing" acquisitions that could triple the company's annual sales to above $3 billion by the end of the year.

Dr Lyons said US-based Alltech, which has its European headquarters in Dunboyne, Co Meath, was in advanced talks to buy two rival businesses, one in southeast Asia and the other in north America.

“We hit $1 billion in sales in the last year. But these acquisitions could have our annual sales up to $3 billion or more by the end of the year. The deals are well and truly under way. They will be game-changers.”

He said both acquisitions would be for “hundreds of millions of dollars”.

Dr Lyons indicated that Alltech, which is family-owned, had the financial capability to do the deals without having to resort to a fundraising.

“The business is highly profitable and we will never go public to raise money.”

Alltech also plans to sell its smaller life sciences division, according to Dr Lyons. Alltech Life Sciences was launched by the company about three years ago to work on new products that could potentially be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease. It is not revenue-generating and is still in a research phase.

“As we speak we are entertaining offers for that side of the business. It is not core for us. The only question that remains is whether we stay in as a minor partner,” said Dr Lyons.

The company, which has operations in the US, Asia, Europe and South America, is mainly focused on producing animal feeds and other related products. It has invested heavily in China, where it entered the market 20 years ago.

It employs about 2,600 staff around the world. Alltech’s bioscience facility in Dunboyne recently announced the creation of more than 100 new jobs, which would bring total employed there to about 200.

Dr Lyons said he was also considering a separate investment at Dunboyne related to the craft brewing side of Alltech’s business. “We are looking at putting a maltings facility there.”