SARIA Food & Pharma has signed an agreement to acquire a 50% shareholding in WAY Solutions Colágeno, a Brazilian company that transforms co-products from the meat industry into high-quality collagen peptides under its brand Pepcol. The joint venture marks a further step in strengthening the business’ position in the growing collagen peptides market.

Supporting growth in a growing market

The global collagen peptide market is expected to grow significantly in the coming years, driven by rising consumer demand for health, wellness, and functional nutrition solutions.

Under its Pepcol brand, WAY Solutions Colágeno is an established producer of bovine collagen peptides for human consumption and animal nutrition. Based in Brazil, the company benefits from an integrated supply chain and access to a strong raw material base, supporting consistent, high-quality production.

The joint venture supports SARIA Food & Pharma’s growth strategy and broadens its collagen portfolio alongside CNM Ingredients’ marine-based collagen offering. It also creates a collaboration that brings together complementary strengths in operations, engineering, sales, research and development, regulatory expertise, and local market knowledge.

By combining their capabilities, the two businesses are well positioned to accelerate growth, expand the collagen peptides portfolio, and build on the value of long-term collaboration in new and emerging markets.

Looking ahead

In the coming weeks, SARIA Food & Pharma and Pepcol will begin working together in a structured way to realize the opportunities created by the partnership.

Van Hessen has been making steady gains as evidenced by their 2025 program reporting and milestones. Here are the key highlights.

Clearest progress yet (2025 year-end results)

Year-on-year improvement: Van Hessen has reduced their Scope 1 & 2 carbon footprint by over 2,700 tCO₂e, a 23.4% reduction compared to 2024, and 28.8% compared to 2022.

To put that into perspective – the company has saved burning the equivalent of 240 40‑foot long shipping containers filled with coal since 2022.

How this connects to 2030 target

The goal is a 42% reduction vs. the 2022 baseline. With the combined 28.8% reduction already achieved, Van Hessen has built strong momentum towards their 2030 objective.

This work reflects the principle: we care because it counts, by making measurable reductions to their environmental footprint through how they operate, the company can drive meaningful change, creating an impact beyond the business.

Plans ahead

Van Hessen will continue to work on improving impact. In the coming period, the company will be assessing opportunities such as:

• Increasing the use of renewable electricity (where feasible)

• Electrification of processes and equipment (where it makes most operational and economic sense)

• Site-level efficiency projects that deliver measurable reductions

On March 31, 2026, SARIA Food & Pharma signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares in Oversea Casing Company (OCC) and its subsidiaries, marking an important step in the division’s growth strategy.

OCC is a well-established natural and collagen casings business in the United States. The company will be integrated into Van Hessen, strengthening SARIA Food & Pharma’s position in North America and supporting its long-term ambition for sustainable growth through targeted acquisitions.

Supporting Long-Term Growth

The acquisition reflects the division’s strategic focus on strengthening its market position and expanding its capabilities in a changing industry landscape.

OCC brings specialist expertise, strong customer relationships, and complementary capabilities that will help create additional value across the business.

Benefits for Customers

By combining OCC’s heritage and experience with SARIA Food & Pharma’s global scale, the acquisition is expected to:

• Broaden product availability and portfolio depth 
• Strengthen service reliability through expanded North American coverage 
• Accelerate innovation in quality, sourcing and operational excellence 
• Enhance supply chain resilience through integrated capabilities 

 As one team, under VH Devro we can offer customers the confidence, consistency, and partnership they need in an increasingly consolidated global market. 

Integration and Next Steps

A structured onboarding and integration process is now underway. In the immediate term, day-to-day operations, roles, and responsibilities remain unchanged, with further updates to be shared as planning progresses.

“This acquisition is in line with SARIA Food & Pharma’s long‑term strategy to grow inorganically through targeted, value‑creating investment. OCC’s expertise and commitment to quality make them an exceptional addition to our family.  As a division, we will continue to create new opportunities for our customers, our people, and our long-term growth.”  Harald van Boxtel, CEO SARIA Food & Pharma 

The acquisition marks an important milestone for SARIA Food & Pharma and reflects the division’s continued focus on building long-term value through strategic growth.

Colleagues from across Devro came together in Nantong to carry out a safety peer-to-peer review, a key activity in Devro’s Health & Safety year plan 2026.

Peer-to-peer reviews are designed to help us support one another in strengthening safety standards across all our sites. By bringing in Supply Chain colleagues from another Devro location, the review provided an external perspective on Nantong’s safety systems and day-to-day practices, while creating valuable opportunities for shared learning.

During the review, the team focused on how local safety policies and procedures align with Devro’s key safety principles, how well these are communicated and trained, and how consistently they are applied in the field. Time was also spent observing operational activities, speaking with colleagues on site and reviewing both behavioural and technical safety measures.

A key strength of the peer-to-peer approach is its focus on learning and continuous improvement. The Nantong review highlighted numerous best practices that have already been shared across other Devro sites, making us Even Better Together, alongside opportunities to strengthen behaviours, procedures and technical controls. These observations were openly discussed with the local leadership team during a wrap-up session, reinforcing our culture of transparency and collaboration.

Where improvement actions were identified, these will be tracked through Intelex to ensure clear ownership and timely follow-up. This structured approach helps us turn insights into action and supports consistency across our global operations.

By learning from different sites, sharing best practices and constructively challenging one another, we continue to build safer workplaces together.

A big thank you to the Nantong team for their warm hospitality, openness and strong engagement throughout the review. Thanks also to the peer reviewers for their time, expertise and constructive feedback.

By working together and learning from one another, we continue to build a safer workplace for everyone at Devro.