New Owners for NutraSweet

Monsanto has sold the NutraSweet Company, makers of aspartame and neotame ( see related article) for $440 million. The buyer is J.W. Childs Equity Partners II, L.P., a Boston, MA-based private investment firm.

Nick E. Rosa, a former Monsanto senior VP, will serve as president and CEO of NutraSweet under its new ownership. Already the world's largest producer of aspartame, the company also makes a new-generation, no-cal sweetener called neotame. Noted Rosa, "The NutraSweet Company revolutionized the sweetener industry in 1981 with the introduction of aspartame, and we intend to do it again with neotame when we receive approval from various regulatory agencies around the world."

Neotame is 40 times sweeter than aspartame, 8,000 times sweeter than sugar, and is expected to have a major impact on the $1.1 billion worldwide high-intensity sweetener market. The ingredient offers a powerful new formulation option for the food and beverage industries.

For more info: Kathy Roderick, The NutraSweet Company, 312-840-5047; www.nutrasweet.com.

Edited by Judy Rice