PureCircle and Merisant Renew Stevia Supply Agreement

Chicago, Illinois, May 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PureCircle (LSE: PURE), the world's leading producer and innovator of stevia sweeteners, has entered into a new stevia supply agreement with Merisant, one of the world's leading producers of low- and zero-calorie tabletop sweeteners for consumers.  This new and expanded partnership will help to ensure Merisant's long-term supply of the best-tasting stevia ingredients.  Merisant has been a partner and customer of PureCircle for the last ten years.  Merisant's sweetener products are sold in more than 90 countries worldwide.

This new agreement focuses on the supply to Merisant of PureCircle's next generation stevia sweetener ingredients like Reb M.  PureCircle announced last year that it significantly increased its capacity to supply Reb M to consumer product companies.  PureCircle's Reb M is a next generation zero-calorie sweetener from the stevia leaf with sugar-like taste.

Merisant's new and innovative tabletop sweeteners include: Canderel and Equal with Stevia; PureVia; and Whole Earth. Both PureVia and Whole Earth use PureCircle's next generation stevia.  Packets of Whole Earth and PureVia carry the PureCircle trustmark.  Whole Earth and PureVia products are available in coffee shops across the U.S. and Europe, including Starbucks stores, as well as in other restaurants and retailers. 

In addition to being served in restaurants, tabletop sweeteners are sold broadly in supermarkets and other retail stores where Whole Earth, PureVia, and Canderel and Equal with Stevia are posting double-digit sales gains.

This new agreement between PureCircle and Merisant makes Merisant one of the leading customers for PureCircle's next generation stevia sweeteners.  Our collaboration continues to introduce consumers around the world to the best tasting stevia in the industry.

Commenting on the new and expanded Merisant partnership, PureCircle CEO Maga Malsagov said:

"Merisant is a key partner for PureCircle. Merisant is a terrific company with terrific products. Merisant's innovative, natural sweetening solutions provide consumers with the best-tasting stevia leaf ingredients available in the marketplace today. This new agreement will benefit both companies, assuring Merisant an expanded supply of next generation stevia sweeteners and assuring PureCircle a growing stream of sales to Merisant for its great-tasting stevia ingredients. This agreement is further testament to the quality of our next generation leaf and to our growing role as the resource and innovation partner for food and beverage companies globally."

Commenting on the PureCircle partnership, Albert Manzone, CEO Merisant Company, Flavors Holdings Inc., and MAFCO said:

 "Our partnership with PureCircle over the past decade has provided Merisant access to the best stevia leaf ingredients available. As consumers continue to search for natural products and opportunities to reduce sugar, our brands strive to bring the best tasting stevia products at the best value to the market. We are excited to continue our partnership in bringing the next generation of stevia to the consumer, and helping to give consumers more and better options to live a healthier lifestyle without sacrificing taste."

By way of background, the story of stevia is evolving.  Not long ago, it was viewed as a plant-based, zero-calorie, single-ingredient sweetener which worked well in some beverage and food applications. Today PureCircle offers a range of next generation stevia leaf sweeteners, including Reb M, which have no calories and which taste great and work well across a wide range of categories. These sweeteners help consumer product companies  increase their offerings of  great-tasting zero- and low-calorie products using plant-based sweeteners, to help respond to evolving consumer tastes.

PureCircle has significantly boosted production of our next generation stevia sweeteners ? like Reb M ? which have the most sugar-like taste and are highly sought after by consumer product companies.  PureCircle is able to supply stevia sweeteners at a cost and scale to meet the growing demands and applications for its best tasting stevia leaf ingredients. PureCircle works with, and supplies, a broad range of leading consumer product companies in multiple markets around the world.

About PureCircle

• PureCircle is the only company that combines advanced R&D with full vertical integration from farm to high-quality, great-tasting innovative stevia sweeteners.
• The Company collaborates with farmers who grow the stevia plants and with food and beverage companies which seek to improve their low- and no-calorie formulations using a sweetener from plants.
• PureCircle will continue to: lead in research, development and innovation; produce a growing supply of multiple varieties of stevia sweeteners with sugar-like taste, using all necessary and appropriate methods of production; and be a resource and innovation partner for food and beverage companies.
• PureCircle stevia flavor modifiers work in synergy with sweeteners to improve the taste, mouthfeel and calorie profile, and enhance the cost effectiveness, of beverage and food products.
• Founded in 2002, PureCircle is continually investing in breakthrough research and development and it has been granted over 130 stevia-related patents with more than 250 applied for patents pending.
• PureCircle has offices around the world with the global headquarters in Chicago, Illinois.
• To meet growing demand for stevia sweeteners, PureCircle is rapidly ramping up its supply capability. It completed expansion of its Malaysian stevia extract facility in March 2017, increasing its capacity to rapidly supply the newer and great-tasting specialty stevia sweeteners and helping provide ever-increasing value to its customers.
• PureCircle's shares are listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.
• For more information, visit: www.purecircle.com 

About stevia

• Given the growing global concerns about obesity and diabetes, beverage and food companies are working responsibly to reduce sugar and calories in their products, responding to both consumers and health and wellness advocates. Sweeteners from the stevia plant offer sugar-like taste and are becoming an increasingly important tool for these companies.
• Like sugar, stevia sweeteners are from plants. But unlike sugar, they enable low-calorie and zero-calorie formulations of beverages and foods.
• Stevia leaf extract is a natural-based, zero calorie, high-intensity sweetener, used by global food and beverage companies as a great-tasting zero-calorie alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners.
• Stevia is a naturally sweet plant native to South America; today, it is grown around the world, notably in Kenya, China and the US.
• The sweet-tasting parts of the stevia leaf are up to 350 times sweeter than sugar: stevia's high-intensity sweetness means it requires far less water and land than sugar.
• Research has shown that the molecules of the stevia leaf are present and unchanged in the dried stevia leaf, through the commercial extraction and purification process, and in the final stevia leaf extract product. All major global regulatory organisations, across 65 countries, have approved the use of high-purity stevia leaf extracts in food and beverages.
• For more information on the science of stevia, please visit https://www.purecirclesteviainstitute.com/  

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