Ingredion Incorporated recently announced in a statement that is has acquired Western Polymer, an US-based company, headquartered in Moses Lake, Washington that makes native and modified potato starches for food and industrial applications.

According to the press release, the acquisition is meant to expand Ingredion’s potato starch manufacturing capacity, ramp up processing capabilities, and broaden its higher-value specialty ingredients portfolio and customers base.

“This next phase of growth is consistent with other actions we’ve taken to strengthen our specialties business and deliver long-term value for our shareholders. This acquisition expands our higher-value specialty ingredients business, which is central to Ingredion’s growth strategy. We have tremendous respect for the culture and business that Western Polymer has built, and we look forward to the future opportunities that we will create together,” said Jim Zallie, Ingredion’s president and chief executive officer.

Ingredion Incorporated, which is headquartered in Chicago, is a global ingredient solutions provider serving customers in more than 120 countries. The company has a total of 11,000 employees and develops products such as crackers crunchy, yogurt creamy, candy sweet, paper stronger, and more.

As for Western Polymer, the firm operates three US manufacturing locations in Moses Lake, Washington, Fort Fairfield, Maine and Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was founded in 1952 and supplies native and modified potato starch for food applications, as well as cationic starch for the paper industry.

The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed.