Takasago International Corporation
高砂香料工業株式会社

Type	Public K.K. (TYO: 4914)
Founded	1920
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Yoshinari Niimura (Chairman and CEO)
Industry	Flavors and Fragrance
Products	Flavors and Fragrances
Revenue	$ 900 million (2006)
Employees	2346
Website	www.takasago.com

Takasago International Corporation (高砂香料工業株式会社, Takasago Kōryō Kōgyō Kabushiki-gaisha^?) (TYO: 4914) is a major international producer of flavors and fragrances headquartered in Japan, with presence in 22 countries worldwide and net sales of $900 million in 2006. Major competitors include Firmenich, International Flavors and Fragrances, Givaudan and Symrise.

[edit] History

Takasago International Corporation was founded on February 9, 1920 as the Takasago Perfumery Company Limited. In 1938 the headquarters of Takasago was moved to Taipei and in 1940 a branch office and factory were set up in Shanghai. In 1945, the Taipei headquarters were taken over by Taiwan and China took over the Shanghai office. In 1951 the Takasago Chemical Company in Taipei was closed and a new company, Takasago Chemical Industry Company was founded. The new company later changed its name to Takasago Perfumery Industry Company and merged with Takasago Perfumery Company.

During the 1960s Takasago established offices in New York and Paris and their headquarters were moved to Hatchoubori 2-11, Chūō Ward. In 1963 Takasago Company Limited was listed in the Tokyo 2nd stock market, but by 1969 they were listed in the Tokyo 1st stock market. Since then the company has opened offices around the world including São Paulo, Singapore, London, Brussels, Zurich and Barcelona.

In 2001, Takasago's Professor Ryoji Noyori won the 2001 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the study of chirally catalyzed hydrogenations.

[edit] External links

• Official website