FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German flavour and scent maker Symrise (>> Symrise AG) is focusing its acquisition strategy on food technology start-ups in the Americas, Asia and in emerging markets - a particular target for sales growth, its chief executive told a German newspaper.

"We are focusing on smaller additions, for instance of start-ups with good technology," Welt am Sonntag quoted Heinz-Juergen Bertram as saying in an interview due out on Sunday.

As part of its diversification into nutritional supplements, Symrise bought a 12 percent stake in Sweden's probiotics manufacturer Probi (>> Probi AB) and a minority stake in Swedish food ingredient developer Indevex Biotech.

Symrise aims to boost the proportion of sales from developing economies - the industry's fastest growing market - to about two thirds by 2020 from 50 percent now, he said. Group revenues were 1.7 billion euros $2.3 billion (1.5 billion pounds) last year.

In the $20 billion fragrance and flavour market, Symrise ranks fourth after Givaudan (>> Givaudan S.A.), IFF (>> International Flavors & Fragrances Inc) and unlisted Firmenich. It sells cosmetic ingredients and scents that go into creams, shampoos and detergents made by groups such as Unilever (>> Unilever plc), Procter & Gamble (>> The Procter & Gamble Company) and Colgate-Palmolive (>> Colgate-Palmolive Company).

(Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Louise Ireland)