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Sugar giant Tate and Lyle sets up £25m venture capital fund

London-headquartered sugar giant Tate & Lyle is planning to invest up to £25m over a five-year period to set up a wholly-owned venture fund. Tate & Lyle Ventures will invest in start-ups and expansion-stage companies that support the company's strategic growth.

Mark Robinson, group planning and business development director at Tate & Lyle, said, 'Tate & Lyle Ventures will be an important vehicle for the Group to continue to invest in innovative products and new technologies. It will complement our internal research capability, which has an excellent track record in new product development, and allow us to stay even closer to external developments in our industry.'

'We also believe the opportunities for smart ingredients and renewable technologies will offer good investment returns and will fill an important gap in the venture investment market, Robinson continued.

The fund will employ specialists sourced from the private equity or venture capital industry. Russell Reynolds Associates has been appointed to undertake an international search.

Tate & Lyle is a manufacturer of renewable food and industrial ingredients. It transforms corn, wheat and sugar into value-added ingredients for customers in the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, paper, packaging and building industries.

Corporate venturing tends to swing in and out of fashion in line with the business and financial cycle. It was hugely popular during the late 1990s, when markets were roaring upwards and the technology bubble was steadily inflating. But a lot of corporate venturing units were slashed when the markets went into reverse and their activities were identified as non-core to the main business.

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