The new century saw DSM in excellent shape. With a clear vision of where it
was heading, the company was making good progress in getting there. Life
science products and high performance materials were to form the core
activities, while, for long as necessary, petrochemicals would generate funds
to finance expansion in those directions.
DSM was now fast becoming a truly global company, and this globalization was
set to continue. In 2000, DSM enlarged its presence in North America by
acquiring the pharmaceutical activities of US firm Catalytica, raising the
proportion of the company’s turnover from life science products to over 30%
and making pharmaceuticals DSM’s biggest end-use market. In 2002, an even more
substantial acquisition followed: the vitamins and fine chemicals division of
the Swiss firm Roche, making DSM the world’s leading supplier to the life
science industry and a powerful research force. And with impeccable timing,
just months before, DSM completed its exit from the cyclical petrochemicals
business, selling all its activities in that field to the Saudi Arabian firm
SABIC.
A new DSM steps into the spotlight…
