Tate & Lyle

Tate & Lyle was formed in 1921, as a result of a merger between two rival sugar and sugar syrup manufacturing firms, Henry Tate & Sons and Abram Lyle & Sons. In 1959 the company acquired its first North American business, Canada Dominion Sugar Co. (later Redpath Sugars), and in 1965 acquired United Molasses.

In 1976, scientists at Tate & Lyle and Queen Elizabeth College, University of London discovered Sucralose, a product which was derived from sugar and was 600 times sweeter than it. In the same year, the company acquired a one-third stake in Amylum, establishing a major interest in starch based manufacturing. As part of its expansion, the company invested in a Portuguese

sugar refining company AlcÐ"Ñžntara in 1983. In 1988, it acquired 90% of A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co. and increased its stake in Amylum to 63%.

In 1988 the company acquired the citric acid business from Haarman & Reimer. This business currently forms the basis of the Group's fermentation capability. As part of its consolidation efforts, the company acquired the remaining shares of Amylum and A.E.Staley in June 2000.

Between April 1999 and June 2003, Tate & Lyle sold around 30 businesses as part of the management's strategy to become a focused world-leading renewable ingredients manufacturer. This consolidation enabled the Company to move into a new phase of growth.

In 2003, Tate & Lyle entered into a 50:50 Joint Venture with Igene Biotechnology to produce Aquasta, a natural form of the nutrient astaxanthin, to be used as an ingredient in fish feed. The production of the ingredient began at a newly constructed facility in Selby, UK in 2004.

In 2004, the company also unified its subsidiary companies such as United Molasses, Amylum, AlcÐ"Ñžntara and A.E. Staley, under the common name of Tate & Lyle, to consolidate the global marketing and R&D functions. In the same year, the company also