Hank Waters, president of Ashland Distribution, noted that the ingestibles line represents less than 4 per cent of the company's total sales of $2.8 billion (€2.3bn) last year, and has little overlap with its other businesses, which focus on the personal care and cosmetics industries.
In contrast, Mitsubishi has been steadily adding to its ingredients business of late, and now has revenues in this division of around $500 million a year.
"We view this acquisition as a strategic opportunity to access more customers in North America and add value to our existing business," said Kenichiro Yagasaki, general manager of the Life Sciences Product Unit at Mitsubishi.
Ashland and Mitsubishi have drawn up a transitional service agreement under which Ashland will continue to provide warehousing, customer service and administrative support.