Aceto has relaunched with a new company name, Actylis, to reflect the company’s hybrid business model as both a sourcing and manufacturing company and the integration of seven acquisitions over the past three years.

Actylis was created from Aceto, a Port, Washington, New York-headquartered fine and specialty chemicals distributor, which following its acquisition in 2019 by the investment firm, New Mountain Capital, has been executing a growth plan by Gilles Cottier, CEO of Actylis. Cottier became CEO of then Aceto in July 2019 following leadership roles with Lonza as Head of Bioscience and SigmaAldrich (now part of MilliporeSigma) as Executive Vice President and President of the Sigma Aldrich Fine Chemicals Commercial Unit.

That growth plan has included seven acquisitions since April 2020 to add R&D and manufacturing capabilities into Aceto’s core sourcing/distribution business. These seven acquisitions were: (1) Syntor Fine Chemicals, a manufacturer of process development and R&D services and intermediates (acquired April 2020); (2) IsleChem, a provider of R&D and manufacturing for pharma, biopharma, and specialty chemicals intermediates (acquired December 2020); (3) A&C, a manufacturer of large-molecule inputs and a select number of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) (acquired April 2021); (4) Finar, a manufacturer, supplier, and distributor of pharmaceutical excipients, lab chemicals, aquaculture inputs, and food-grade additives (acquired May 2021); (5) Cascade Chemistry, a CDMO of regulatory starting materials, intermediates, and APIs (acquired June 2021); (6) A&C Bio Buffer, a manufacturer of large-molecule buffers and other inputs (October 2021); and (7) Biotron, a manufacturer of mineral chelates and complexes (acquired March 2022).

Following those acquisitions, the company has grown from approximately 200 employees to more than more than 850. Actylis has annual revenues of more than $560 million and is organized into three main divisions: (1) life sciences, the largest part of the company, which includes products for the pharma/biopharma, cosmetics, and nutrition markets; (2) specialty chemicals; and (3) agriscience.

Actylis has seven manufacturing facilities and seven R&D facilities. As a sourcing entity, it works with more than 1,000 suppliers. The company is proceeding with a $25-million expansion plan of three manufacturing facilities: (1) Grand Island, New York, to increase output of specialty chemicals, pharma intermediates, and R&D capabilities; (2) Montreal, to introduce buffer and water-for-injection manufacturing and Class 7 cleanrooms; and (3) Eugene, Oregon, to expand the site to include GMP commercial manufacturing of APIs.

The expansion in Eugene added a new 30,000-square-foot-clinical cGMP API manufacturing facility, which opened this month (September 2022). The facility has seven suites for Phase I to commercial GMP manufacturing, up to 400 L, including hydrogenation capabilities. Future expansion plans are for Phase III and commercial manufacturing up to 2,000 L. The facility also has new analytical labs and a related quality system.

Source: Actylis