Tate & Lyle Venture Fund

Tate & Lyle PLC
                  

21 February 2005 - Tate & Lyle PLC

Tate & Lyle to invest up to £25 million in new venture fund - Tate & Lyle
Ventures

Tate & Lyle PLC announced today an investment of up to £25 million over a
five-year period to set up a wholly-owned venture fund, Tate & Lyle Ventures.
The new venture fund will invest in start-ups and expansion-stage companies that
support Tate & Lyle's strategic growth focus to deliver next-generation food and
industrial ingredients.

'Tate & Lyle Ventures is a natural next step for Tate & Lyle,' said Mark
Robinson, Group Planning and Business Development Director, Tate & Lyle. 'We are
currently enjoying exciting success with SPLENDA(R)Sucralose and have innovative
products nearing commercialisation such as Aquasta(TM) Astaxanthin and our
bio-polymer ingredient

Bio-3G.

'Tate & Lyle Ventures will be an important vehicle for the Group to continue to
invest in innovative products and new technologies. It will complement our
internal research capability, which has an excellent track record in new product
development, and allow us to stay even closer to external developments in our
industry. We will leverage our global business knowledge and expertise, seeking
to add more than money to the businesses in which we invest. We want to work
together as real partners to help them grow and succeed.

'We also believe the opportunities for smart ingredients and renewable
technologies will offer good investment returns and will fill an important gap
in the venture investment market. By setting up Tate & Lyle Ventures we are
investing in growth, supporting innovation in high-specification ingredients and
ultimately delivering more choice to our customers.'

The fund will employ specialists sourced from the private equity or venture
capital industry. Russell Reynolds Associates has been appointed to undertake an
international search.

For more details contact:

Mark Robinson, (Investor Relations) [phone]
Chris Fox, (Press) [phone]

About Tate & Lyle:

Tate & Lyle is a world leading manufacturer of renewable food and industrial
ingredients. It uses innovative technology to transform corn, wheat and sugar
into value-added ingredients for customers in the food, beverage,
pharmaceutical, cosmetic, paper, packaging and building industries. The Company
is a leader in cereal sweeteners and starches, sugar refining, value added food
and industrial ingredients, and citric acid. Tate & Lyle is the world number-one
in industrial starches and is the sole manufacturer of SPLENDA(R)Sucralose.
Headquartered in London, Tate & Lyle is listed on the London Stock Exchange
under the symbol TATE.L. In the US its ADRs trade under TATYY. The Company
operates more than 60 production facilities in 28 countries, throughout Europe,
the Americas and South East Asia. It employs 6,700 people in its subsidiaries
with a further 4,800 employed in joint ventures. Sales in the year to 31 March
2004 totalled £3.1 billion. Additional information can be found on
www.tateandlyle.com.

SPLENDA(R) is a trademark of McNeil Nutritionals, LLC

Notes to Editors

--  Aquasta(TM) Astaxanthin is an essential nutrient for farm-raised fish
    produced by our joint venture with biotech company, Igene Biotechnology,
    Inc.

--  Bio-3G is made from corn and will be produced by joint venture DuPont Tate &
    Lyle BioProducts, LLC. Bio-3G is used to produce DuPont's textile polymer
    DuPont(TM) Sorona(R).