French yeast giant Lesaffre establishes APAC hub in Singapore
The S$4m APAC hub consolidates the family-owned company’s Singapore office and its baking, food taste, human health and nutrition, and animal care and biotechnology facilities in one location. Its business streams in Singapore include Biospringer (culinary solutions), Lesaffre Human Care (human health and nutrition), Phileo (animal health and nutrition), and Procelys (biotechnology solutions).
The 1,000 sq m space features a Lesaffre Baking Center — one of the largest in the world — and a Culinary Center.
The venue’s inaugural opening was held last week, led by Lesaffre CEO Antoine Baule and attended by trade and enterprise senior parliamentary secretary Low Yen Ling, as well as ambassador of France to Singapore, Marc Abensour.
A growing presence
Lesaffre's APAC hub in Singapore was set up only late last year, but before that, the company already had a presence in Singapore, albeit a much smaller team to manage business operations.
Since July 2013, Lesaffre has been slowly expanding its operations in Singapore, starting with its Human Care business. Procelys followed in 2015, Phileo in February 2016, and then BioSpringer in September 2016.
Prior to expanding its Singapore presence, Lesaffre had already been active for over two decades in other Asian countries, including India, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
Committed to Asia
Among the Asia Pacific countries where Lesaffre has been operating, Singapore was chosen as the location for its regional hub due to its reputation as a developed nation.
Baule said, “Being at the heart of a region with an important role in the food, biotechnology, (and) human and animal care sectors fully justifies the company’s investments in Singapore. As a family-owned group, headquartered in France and operating in Asia Pacific for more than 40 years, Lesaffre is very committed to its new set-up in Singapore to better serve its customers in the region.”
Established in northern France in 1853, Lesaffre is an international player in the yeast and fermentation sector, creating, producing and selling solutions for baking, food taste and pleasure, healthcare and biotechnology.
Managing Director (Asia Pacfic) Joergen Lundgaard said, “Singapore’s capabilities as a high-quality, future-ready, global food ingredients hub was a key factor in our decision to make it the home of our Asia Pacific regional hub. Lesaffre will continue to invest in local and regional talent, process capabilities, and innovative technology to support the robust growth in this important region.”
Lesaffre’s regional hub in Singapore is expected to create more than 75 jobs by the end of next year.
