Tokyo, Jan 21 - British private equity and venture capital firm 3i said on Monday it has bought a minority stake in Chinese natural sweetener maker Futaste Pharmaceutical Co Ltd.
Futaste, founded in 1993 in Yucheng, Shandong province, has an annual processing capacity of 35,000 tons of xylitol.
Xylitol is used widely in chewing gum and increasingly in chocolate, sweets, ice cream, preserves, beverages and toothpaste. The sweetener is produced naturally from corn cobs.