7 April 2008

A Hamilton company that extracts a zero-kilojoule sweetener from a fruit grown in southern China is aiming for revenue of up to $100 million within a few years.

BioVittoria's PureLo, a non-calorific sweetener extracted from luo han, is used in sachet sweeteners, smoothies, yoghurts, powdered dietary supplements and cereals, gaining traction in the global food and drink sector.

The firm is considering listing in either London, Paris, or Hong Kong - but not New Zealand.

BioVittoria chief executive David Thorrold said he could not say which companies used PureLo in their products because of confidentiality agreements but they were some of the most high-profile food and beverage groups. The company was on track for revenue in excess of $100 million within four to five years, he said.

BioVittoria was founded by former HortResearch scientist Garth Smith, who played a key role in the development of the kiwifruit industry, and American nutraceuticals marketer Stephen LeFebvre.

A Chinese colleague of Dr Smith introduced him to the luo han - a small pulpy fruit known in China for its sweetness and medicinal properties. Dr Smith then developed a method of extracting a powder that has no calories and is 300 times as sweet as cane sugar.

Most of the luo han crop is grown by the Miao and Yao hill tribes in a mountainous areas of Guangxi province. Luo han is protected under World Trade Organisation rules, so it may not be commercially grown outside a few areas in southern China.

BioVittoria contracts growers in China and is building a bigger extraction plant and working with Chinese local, provincial and central government to increase the amount of luo han being grown.

"We're taking a cottage industry and ramping it up as fast as we can," says Mr LeFebvre. "We've talked to almost every major food and beverage company in the world. The real challenge for us is growing enough fruit."

BioVittoria is 60 per cent-owned by its founders and management and 30 per cent-owned by Endeavour Capital; 10 per cent is held by private investors in the United States and New Zealand.

Mr Thorrold said the company was eyeing a sharemarket listing at some point in the next few years. BioVittoria was most likely to list on an alternative exchange such as London's AIM market or the Paris-based Euronext. Hong Kong was also a possibility, he said.