BioFirst Group, formerly Biobest Group, has acquired the remaining 14.71 per cent stake in Brazilian biologicals company Biotrop, giving it full ownership of the business and accelerating its push to build a global biologicals platform.
The minority stake was acquired from shareholders including Aqua Capital and Zempar, ahead of the originally planned timeline. The transaction simplifies BioFirst’s ownership structure, enables deeper integration of Biotrop into the group and is expected to accelerate synergies across its biological crop protection portfolio. The deal does not create additional liabilities for BioFirst Group, as the transaction had been fully provisioned for.
Biotrop’s management will remain invested in the business, while Antonio Zem continues to serve on the BioFirst Group board, providing continuity as the Brazilian company enters its next phase of expansion.
Biotrop gives BioFirst industrial scale in Brazil
Acquired by BioFirst in 2023, Biotrop has established itself as a major player in Brazil’s rapidly expanding biologicals market, with products spanning biopesticides, biostimulants and inoculants for both row crops and specialty crops.
The scale of its manufacturing operation is becoming a key competitive advantage. In 2026, Biotrop’s latest investment is expected to deliver production capacity of 23 million litres of beneficial bacteria and 600 tonnes of beneficial fungi. The output could cover as much as 50 million hectares of Brazilian farmland, putting the business among the largest industrial-scale biologicals operations in the market.
Brazil’s regulatory framework for biological products and the rapid adoption of biological solutions have created favourable conditions for Biotrop’s expansion. For BioFirst, full ownership now provides greater control over how the Brazilian platform is integrated with its wider technology, commercial and manufacturing capabilities.
“Becoming a fully integrated division of BioFirst Group opens up an entirely new level of opportunity for Biotrop,” says Jonas Hipólito, President of Biotrop. “Backed by the group's expertise and global reach, we're ready to grow beyond Brazil and deliver our biological solutions to farmers in new markets - building more resilient, more sustainable and more profitable agriculture, at international scale.”
The acquisition also follows BioFirst Group’s recent decision to take full ownership of its production activities in Morocco, signalling a broader strategy of bringing strategically important biologicals assets under direct group control.
From biologicals specialist to integrated platform
The Biotrop deal is significant because it expands BioFirst’s reach across multiple segments of biological crop protection rather than adding another single-product business to its portfolio.
Biotrop brings microbial solutions, including biopesticides, biostimulants and inoculants. BioBest adds macrobiologicals and pollination solutions. Together, the businesses give BioFirst exposure across a broader biologicals value chain, from soil and microbial technologies to crop protection, beneficial insects and pollination.
That breadth is central to the group’s ambition to become the world’s leading pure-play biologicals company and rank among the top 10 companies in the global agricultural industry by 2034.
“Acquiring full ownership of Biotrop ahead of schedule is a decisive step in our strategy,” says Jean-Marc Vandoorne, CEO of BioFirst Group. “It simplifies our structure, accelerates integration, and lets us unlock synergies across the group faster. Together, our divisions give growers a complete biological alternative - and that is exactly where the future of agriculture is heading.”
“We are proud of what Biotrop has achieved and of its continued success under BioFirst's ownership. Biotrop is an entrepreneurial, science- and client-driven business, and in BioFirst it has found an owner well placed to support its next phase of growth - an inspiration for the sector and for Brazil's agricultural entrepreneurs,” says Sebastian Popik, Managing Partner of Aqua Capital.
Hipólito sees the completion of the transaction as the beginning of a new chapter rather than the end of the company’s M&A journey.
“Closing the acquisition of the remaining shares completes one of those rare M&A journeys where everyone wins: the sellers, the buyer, and the people who built, and continue to build, Biotrop,” he says. “We are grateful to our previous shareholders for their role in our growth. Now, with BioFirst, we move forward even stronger, with solid values and a clear vision to build the best and biggest biological player in the world.”
With Biotrop now fully integrated, BioFirst is moving from a collection of complementary biologicals businesses towards a more unified global platform. The strategic question is no longer whether biologicals can become a larger part of crop protection, but how quickly a company with scale across microbial, macrobiological and pollination technologies can convert that breadth into a global competitive advantage.
