Glanbia Nutritionals has agreed to acquire Watson, Connecticut-based manufacturer and supplier of high-quality custom nutrient premix, bakery ingredient, edible film, and material conditioning solutions for the nutrition, food and beverage, personal care and supplement industries.
 
Watson is a third-generation family business with an 80-year history of providing quality, capability and service to its customers. The transaction strengthens Glanbia’s capability set with microencapsulation, agglomeration, micronizing, spray drying and edible film technologies. 
 
The knowledge and experience of the combined R&D teams will cement Glanbia’s position as a leader in the sector, with the enhanced ability to create premix solutions that address the complex formulation requirements of today’s increasingly sophisticated applications.
 
Glanbia Nutritionals’ custom nutrient premix production footprint now extends coast to coast in the U.S. with facilities in California, Missouri, Illinois, and Connecticut to better serve customers across the region. The U.S. presence is supplemented by facilities in Germany and China to provide global scale and solutions to its customers.
 
“We are excited to welcome the 300 employees of Watson with their established reputation of expertise, technical capability and commitment to excellence,” said Brian Phelan, CEO of Glanbia Nutritionals. “The customers of both organizations will stand to benefit significantly from the combined capabilities that the two teams now bring together.”
 
Glanbia Nutritionals, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Glanbia plc, is a $1.4 billion nutritional solutions and cheese business with over 2,000 employees and a presence in 19 countries.