Naturex, a supplier of speciality plant-based ingredients for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food markets, has acquired 51% of the stakes of Chile Botanics, a young Chilean company specialised in the production and marketing of Quillaja extracts.

Native to Chile, Quillaja saponaria (soap bark tree), the soap bark tree, is a hardy perennial evergreen. Its dry bark, rich in saponin, has been used for centuries by the local population for its cleaning properties (body, hair, clothing…). Located near the country’s most prolific natural Quillaja forests, Chile Botanics has developed Quillaja sourcing providing for sustained harvesting of the wood and branches.

Quillaja saponaria (soap bark tree) native to warm temperate central Chile

Quillaja extracts address are used in the food industry as a foaming agent, in the cosmetics industry as a surfactant for balms and creams and as a foaming agent for emulsifiers and shampoos, in the pharmaceutical industry as an adjuvant for vaccines, and in agriculture as an adjuvant for natural herbicides.

This new investment for approximately US$3 million fits Naturex’s external growth strategy and should, according to its Chairman-CEO, Thierry Lambert, expand the group’s range of raw materials in a manner consistent with its sustainable development approach and strengthen its “positioning in Latin America, a region with very strong growth potential.