Photo (from left to right): Hiroshi Kawahara, Christian Stork-Bohmann, Gilbert Klausmeyer, Tomohisa Kinami, Helge Jakubowski, Yoshitomo Kanaoka, Oliver Beckmann
Exploring joint perspectives for growth and innovation.
At the end of May, the Board of Leiber GmbH travelled to Japan to introduce themselves to the top management of their parent company, Asahi Group, and further strengthen the collaboration.
During the visit, the delegation stopped at the yeast extraction plant in Tochigi and the impressive R&D centre in Moriya, where around 500 employees work on new products and technologies for the Asahi Group. The pilot plant, a test facility for practical trials of new production processes, in particular emphasised the innovation potential that lies in the connection between the two parties.
Talks were held with Asahi management at the Tokyo headquarters, during which joint development areas in R&D, product innovations and processes were identified. Despite their different sizes, the two partners met as equals, with the clear aim of learning from each other and growing together.
Cultural experiences and culinary delights rounded off the trip, strengthening the personal dialogue.
How can schools best prepare young people for the digital job market? What AI skills do companies expect from future professionals? These questions were the key topics of the School-Business Network Meeting, which took place at the Leiber Campus in Bramsche. Around 45 participants from business, education, and institutions gathered to discuss artificial intelligence in education and to develop collaborative projects.
Driving Digital Education Forward
Organized by the School-Business Service Center of MaßArbeit, with support from Bramsche Economic Development, the event aimed to strengthen connections between schools and companies. Magdalena Brosda, HR Director at Leiber GmbH, highlighted the importance of this dialogue: “Exchange is key to driving innovative ideas and actively shaping digital transformation in education.” AI expert Alexander Bose from the Mittelstand-Digital Center Lingen.Münster.Osnabrück provided insights into the AI skills most in demand in businesses and the challenges German companies face when implementing AI. A particular focus was placed on the lack of digital infrastructure and targeted training, which were identified as major obstacles.
From Theory to Practice
In interactive workshops, participants developed creative approaches for integrating AI into everyday school life. Ideas such as a robotics club, teacher training programs, and a mobile “North District AI Bus” to deliver AI knowledge illustrate how education and industry can work together to develop innovative concepts. “To best prepare students for the digital future, close collaboration between schools, businesses, and policymakers is essential,” summarized Katja Bielefeld from the School-Business Service Center.
The Asahi Group wants to expand its international market presence in the food and biotechnology sectors. To achieve this goal, Asahi Group Foods, Ltd, (Head office: Tokyo, Japan, hereinafter Asahi Group Foods) which is a subsidiary of Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd., has conducted a contract with the shareholders of Leiber GmbH (Head office: Bramsche, Germany, hereinafter Leiber), a brewer’s yeast-related products manufacturing and sales company with global operations, mainly in Europe, to transfer the shares on 5 March 2025. Under the agreement, Asahi Group Foods plans to acquire 100% of the shares of Leiber by the end of April 2025.
Leiber has an innovative product range in the field of yeast applications for the food, fermentation, and animal nutrition industries as well as for biotechnology. Leiber thus complements the expertise of the Asahi Group Foods in the yeast business sector and forms a central building block for its international expansion. As a medium-sized company, Leiber gains a strong partner who will invest in the expansion of research and development as well as production capacities. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
‘This transaction marks a new step for our company into the global yeast product market, particularly in Europe. We intend to combine Leiber’s excellent technological capabilities, sales network, and customer base with our strength to create value and to nurture this growth driver for Asahi Group,’ says Hiroshi Kawahara, CEO of Asahi Group Foods. ‘We are therefore looking forward to operating successfully together in the fast-growing yeast market in the long term.’
‘We are delighted to have found a competent, foresighted partner in Asahi, who recognises the strategic role that Leiber can play as a medium-sized brewer’s yeast specialist,’ says Bernd Schmidt-Ankum, Managing Director of Leiber GmbH. ‘As a third-generation family business, we have invested heavily in our innovative capacity in recent years – from research & development, sustainable energy and production capacities to market access. I look forward to working with Asahi and the existing team to help implement the future strategy and continue Leiber’s growth trajectory both nationally and internationally.’
About Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd.:
Asahi Group Holdings Ltd., is one of the five largest breweries in the world, with brands such as Asahi, Grolsch, Kozel, Peroni and Pilsner Urquell. In addition to beer, the group also produces spirits, soft drinks and food.
Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. is a global leader offering a diverse collection of brands centered on beer, alcohol and non-alcohol beverages, and food. Our mission is to deliver on our great taste promise and bring more fun to life. Established in Japan in 1889, the Group has always been committed to innovation and quality. With a global presence primarily in Japan, Europe, Oceania, and Southeast Asia, we provide over 10 billion liters of beverages to consumers worldwide and generate revenues of over JPY 2.7 trillion annually. Headquartered in Japan, Asahi Group Holdings Ltd., is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (Prime Market: 2502.T).
About Asahi Group Foods, Ltd.:
Asahi Group Foods Ltd., was established in July 2015 to handle the food-related businesses of the Asahi Group. We launched operations in January 2016, by bringing together three existing Asahi Group companies, namely, Asahi Food and Healthcare, Wakodo and Amano Jitsugyo. We have inherited more than a century of history and tradition, including the pioneering technologies and long-selling brands of the original three companies. These include Japan’s first domestically produced baby formula, launched in 1917; EBIOS, launched in 1930; and Japan’s first freeze-dried miso soup with garnishes, launched in 1983. To further bolster our strengths in the healthcare businesses, we also welcomed Asahi Calpis Wellness on board in January 2021.
Our long-term vision is “Through our pursuit of “Delicious+”, we contribute to building healthy minds and bodies”. We’re working toward this vision to achieve the aims of the Asahi Group Philosophy. Through our wide range of delicious and distinctly unique products including confectionery, health foods, supplements, baby formula, baby foods, nursing foods and other nursing products, freeze-dried foods, and various food ingredients, including the yeast related products, we continue to be fully committed to solving societal issues and helping customers to develop healthy minds and bodies.
About Leiber GmbH:
Leiber GmbH refines brewer’s yeast into innovative product solutions for healthy nutrition, biotechnological and agricultural applications. Around 200 employees work in Research & Development, Technology & Production and Administration & Sales at the German headquarters in Bramsche. Another production plant is located in Krosniewice, Poland. Since 2024, the Spanish company ABN Aplicaciones Biológicas a la Nutrición SL in Madrid has also been part of Leiber. A total of around 290 people work for Leiber, whose product solutions are sold internationally to customers in the food, animal nutrition, neutraceuticals and biotechnology sectors.
The company was founded in 1954 by Franz Leiber and has been family-owned ever since. As a brewer’s yeast specialist, Leiber has been practicing sustainable and reliable upcycling at world market level for seven decades.
From November 26 to 28, 2024, the Nuremberg Exhibition Centre once again became the meeting point for the international brewing and beverage industry as BrauBeviale opened its doors. Leiber GmbH proudly participated with its own stand.
BrauBeviale offers perfect solutions for every beverage manufacturer, displaying a wide range of products across the entire process chain – from raw materials to filling, packaging, and marketing. The event was an ideal platform to present our expertise in refined brewer’s yeast.
Give Yeast a Second Life – As a full-service partner, we have been refining by-products of breweries into valuable raw materials for 70 years, creating innovative products from these resources. For us, sustainability is more than a trend; it is the foundation for the future of the brewing and beverage industry. BrauBeviale once again provided the opportunity to position ourselves as an essential part of the process chain. Numerous industry professionals visited our stand to learn about our products and engaged in dynamic, insightful discussions. The overwhelmingly positive feedback confirmed that our innovations address the precise challenges the industry seeks to solve.
Highlights of the event included engaging discussions on key questions such as:
- Which innovations will shape the industry in the future?
- How can sustainability be further integrated into production processes?
For us, BrauBeviale 2024 was not only a platform to highlight our innovations but also an opportunity to gain valuable insights. We look forward to incorporating these learnings into future projects and shaping the future of the brewing industry together with our partners.
In 2025, we look forward to DrinkTec, which takes place instead every four years. As the world’s leading trade fair, it offers even greater opportunities for innovation and international collaboration.
Leiber reflects on its particularly successful participation at the EuroTier 2024 trade fair, from 12 to 15 November, 2024. As a refiner of innovative brewers’ yeast products for humans and animals, we welcomed numerous visitors to our stand and engaged in informative discussions about our products for animal nutrition.
EuroTier is the world’s largest trade fair for animal feed and management. This year it attracted 120,000 visitors, from 49 countries. Our stand in Hall 20 was a popular stop for trade visitors wanting to find out about the latest trends and technologies in the industry.
“Once again, EuroTier 2024 proved to be an outstanding platform for making valuable contacts”, says Moritz Meyer zu Erbe-Färber, Head of Sales Animal Nutrition at Leiber GmbH. “We are proud to say that our brewers’ yeast products not only attracted a great deal of interest, but also resulted in concrete enquiries and collaborations. Conversations with farmers, livestock owners, and other professionals give us important insights into the needs of the industry.”
The next EuroTier, EnergyDecentral and Inhouse Farming events will take place in Hanover from 10 to 13 November, 2026.
Unique in the world: hundreds of healthy products from a single raw material
Leiber celebrates its anniversary with over 200 partners, friends and employees – 70 years of sustainable upcycling of brewer’s yeast
“What do bodybuilders, vegans, wine lovers, farmed salmon, dairy cows and riding horses all over the world have in common? They all love Leiber products,” says Managing Director Bernd Schmidt-Ankum on the occasion of the company’s birthday. Leiber GmbH from Bramsche-Engter in Germany has been refining yeast from beer production for 70 years now. A single raw material is turned into hundreds of products for biotechnology, livestock and pet food, food supplements and food. The grandson of founder Franz Leiber emphasized that this unique success story would not be possible without the many excellent minds and hands. “We have retained a start-up mentality over seven decades, which makes me very proud. The ultra-modern building, our new campus, where we are guests today, represents precisely this creativity and innovative strength. We will develop many more ideas here.”
The new light-flooded headquarters not only houses offices, but also research and development as well as a test kitchen. More than 200 business partners and friends were able to admire the uniquely sustainable Leiber Campus for the first time at the official anniversary reception and taste some of the products live on site. “What our colleagues produce here every day from just one raw material you can almost call “magic”,” says Leiber Managing Director Gilbert Klausmeyer, sharing his enthusiasm. The variety ranges from preparations from large German drugstore chains to strengthen the immune system to Britain’s favorite spread. Simone Erb, Eike Meyer-Wetjen and Dr. Holger Kühlwein reported that there is no end in sight with a brief insight into current developments in the areas of nutraceuticals (food supplements), food and aquaculture.
Of course, a look back was also a must. Artist Elena Handel used sand painting for this. She traced seven decades of sustainable upcycling at global market level on a pane of glass – followed live by the eyes of the guests, who watched intently as one milestone artistically passed into the next – from the founding of the company in 1954 to the construction of the new campus last year.
Flashback: In 1954, Franz Leiber founded the “Bierhefeverarbeitungsgesellschaft Franz Leiber & Co” in Damme. His family had been running an agricultural trading business since 1798, so he was born into the agricultural and food industry. Leiber’s innovative and sustainable idea: to make the vitamin B complex from brewer’s yeast, which at the time was still little researched, usable for animal husbandry. The breakthrough came ten years later. Through his own research and development, Leiber had developed a process with which the brewer’s yeast could be dried while at the same time preserving the valuable and healthy ingredients. In 1994, the new plant in Bramsche was put into operation, a Polish subsidiary was founded in 2003 and a Russian subsidiary in 2009. In 2024, Leiber takes over the Spanish company Aplicaciones Biológica a la Nutrición S.L. (ABN).
Today, the main site in Bramsche-Engter is home to a state-of-the-art extraction plant with three drying spray towers, a spacious campus, well-equipped laboratories and a modern high-bay warehouse. In addition to all economic development, the company has always focused on sustainability: in 2024, its own biomass power plant was put into operation to reduce CO2 emissions. This covers around 80 percent of the site’s energy consumption. Leiber aims to achieve completely climate-neutral production by 2030. The down-to-earth and inventive spirit of the founder continues to have an impact today. “We are proud of our past, but look forward to the future. There are plenty of plans!” says Bernd Schmidt-Ankum.
Photo from left to right: Rafael Pérez Abejón (ABN Director of Operations), Christian Stork-Bohmann (Leiber CBDO), Lucas Mazzini Vázquez (ABN Production Manager), Lourdes Fernández-Abellán Sancho (ABN Supply Chain Manager), Gilbert Klausmeyer (Leiber CEO), Bernd Schmidt-Ankum (Leiber CEO), Oliver Beckmann (Leiber COO), Helge Jakubowski (Leiber CSO), César Pérez Abejón (ABN CEO)
The Spanish Aplicaciones Biologicas a la Nutricion S.L. (ABN) and the German Leiber GmbH are joining forces on the European Market for food and feed products derived from brewers´ yeast. While ABN, founded in 2000, employs some 50 specialists, Leiber has built up a team of some 250 staff since its founding in 1954. Both family-owned companies specialize in products and ingredients for the food and animal nutrition industries. Both run production and R&D facilities, and emphasize the sustainable approach of their products and processes.
‘We’re delighted to have found a partner who will enable us to further innovate and broaden our offer of high quality products for the European Market,’ says Cesar Perez Abejon, Managing Director of ABN. ‘We’ll continue to distribute our products under the well established brand name of ABN and keep all our colleagues on board. We are looking forward to a closer cooperation with our long standing partners of Leiber.’
‘The close cooperation of Leiber with ABN will open up many synergies, more than just the sum of its parts. By joining forces, we´ll be able to broaden our services level and portfolio towards the brewing industry as well as our customers on the European market. With our joint capacities it will be easier for us to offer innovate products not only for feed and food but also for biotechnology and neutraceuticals,’ says Bernd Schmidt Ankum, CEO of Leiber GmbH. ‘We’ll both gain with regard to efficiency, innovation and logistical management.
ABN is a key player on the European yeast market, focusing on Spain and Portugal. With own R&D and production sites ABN products offer high quality solutions for the food and animal nutrition sectors. Founded in 2000, the company is run by the second generation of the family owners. More about ABN
Leiber refines brewers’ yeast into innovative products for humans and animals. For our customers we conduct research in our own laboratories and develop tailor-made solutions for healthy nutrition, biotechnology and agricultural applications. We reliably supply excellent products – and have been upcycling at world-market level since 1954.
Vitafoods 2024, the world-renowned trade fair for nutraceuticals, took place in Geneva for the last time this year and was a great success. Around 20,000 participants from all over the world attended the event, which is considered one of the most important platforms in the industry.
Our highlights at Vitafoods 2024
Our booth attracted many interested visitors this year. We were proud to present our YeaProt® Sanus, an innovative yeast protein as a vegan alternative to whey protein. Visitors were impressed by the neutral taste and emphasized the product’s versatility.
Another highlight at our booth was the chocolate-flavored protein bar, served as an example of how our YeaProt® Sanus can be used. This also received consistently positive feedback and demonstrated impressively how our yeast protein can be integrated into delicious and healthy products.
In addition to YeaProt® Sanus, we presented Yestimun® Beta-Glucan and InterYeast Vital Yeasts. Both products attracted great interest among the visitors.
A trade fair full of engaging encounters
The Leiber trade fair team was actively engaged throughout the entire event. We had many of interesting discussions and were able to make numerous new contacts. The interest in our products was overwhelming and we can look back on an extremely successful trade fair. We would like to thank all the employees whose dedication and expertise contributed significantly to our success. Their commitment and professionalism were essential for the smooth running and success of our trade fair presence.
Vitafoods 2024 in Geneva was an important milestone for us and a worthy conclusion to the trade fair at this location. We are looking forward to attending Vitafoods in Barcelona next year and are excited about the new challenges and opportunities that await us.
Many thanks to all the visitors who visited our stand. We are already looking forward to seeing you again next year in Barcelona!
When Franz Leiber founded the company that now bears his name on 6 March 1954, the word upcycling didn’t yet exist. The founder’s basic idea of obtaining valuable extracts from secondary beer brewing streams was also innovative. Leiber is now a globally networked specialist for brewers’ yeast, and develops ingredients for biotechnology, the food industry, animal nutrition and agriculture in its own laboratories. To accomplish this, over 200 employees in Bramsche work together with around 65 partners worldwide to refine brewers’ yeast, thus making Leiber GmbH, which has developed from Bierhefeverarbeitungsgesellschaft Franz Leiber & Co over the past 70 years, a highly-specialised market leader.
Innovation is the company’s DNA. In cooperation with diverse customers, new products are constantly being developed in our internal Research and Development department. Its laboratories are an important element of the new Leiber Campus which was inaugurated in 2023.
These modern, three-storey headquarters gather the various departments – from Customer Service, Sales and Marketing to Corporate Development and Finance – together under the same roof in the immediate vicinity of the production site in Bramsche-Engter. Colleagues meet up in the integrated restaurant, a test kitchen provides room for experimental tastings with guests and bright galleries offer space for discussions.
“With the Leiber Campus, we want, firstly, to offer our staff a good place to work and meet up and, secondly, to invest in Leiber’s successful future at the Bramsche site”, says Gilbert Klausmeyer, Managing Director of Leiber GmbH. In the recent past, Leiber has also invested in production facilities in Engter and in a new biomass power plant that is intended to reduce CO2 emissions by approx. 50% from the end of 2024. Leiber aims to achieve net zero at its German production site by 2030. At Leiber, sustainability is not only firmly entrenched in the company’s motto, “Give Yeast a Second Life”, but throughout the entire value chain. As an intermediary between major breweries on the one hand and food and animal nutrition industry companies on the other, Leiber is a medium-sized ‘hidden champion’.
“Decades of experience with the raw material of brewers’ yeast combined with the pioneering spirit of a start-up are what make Leiber unique. My grandfather Franz Leiber himself exemplified the innovation that we are continuing to evolve”, says Bernd Schmidt-Ankum, Managing Director of Leiber GmbH and the founder’s grandson.
The team is at the centre of this corporate success. Leiber offers varied, crisis-proof and meaningful jobs. “We offer a wide range of jobs. We offer opportunities for trainees and production employees, engineers and laboratory technicians or also salespeople and key account managers”, says Magdalena Brosda, head of the Human Resources department. Applications from the Osnabrück region are equally as welcome as those from the university network with which Leiber cooperates.
In order to present the company, the products and also career opportunities to interested parties and neighbours, Leiber is planning an open day on Sunday, 15 September 2024. This family-friendly date has already been set; the programme of events is to be finalised before being published.
Leiber’s appearance at the Vitafoods trade fair in Geneva was focused on Yestimun® beta-glucan for stimulating and modulating the immune system. Leiber presented its wide range of Interyeast® Vital Brewers’ Yeast products with a high vitamin B content at Europe’s biggest nutraceuticals trade fair. In mid-May, this was where 150,000 experts from 130 countries met up to network, to identify market trends and to find out about new product developments.
The new Yestimun® website also went live right on time at the start of the trade fair (www.yestimun.de). Here, product developers can obtain information on Yestimun®’s functions and the applications for which Brewers’ Yeast beta-glucan can be sensibly used. The website offers consumers answers concerning the Yestimun® brand, which is also listed as an ingredient on end consumer packaging.
About Leiber:
Leiber refines brewers’ yeast to produce innovative products for humans and animals. For our customers we carry out research in our own laboratories and develop tailor-made product solutions for healthy nutrition, biotechnology and agricultural applications. We reliably supply excellent products – and have been upcycling at world-market level since 1954.
