Ajinomoto Takes Full Control of AGF From Mondelez

27 Feb 2015 --- Japanese food and pharmaceutical firm Ajinomoto and US snacks giant Mondelez have agreed to Ajinomoto Co.’s acquisition of all shares held by Mondelez in Ajinomoto General Foods (AGF), a 50/50 joint venture between the two companies, for JPY27bn ($226.3m).

Mondelez holds the shares through its subsidiary Kraft Foods Holdings Singapore Pte. Ltd.

AGF handles a wide range of beverage products including coffee, tea and cocoa, and has an innovative corporate culture. By making AGF a consolidated subsidiary, Ajinomoto Co. will expand the scale of its business and accelerate growth by harmonizing each business division of Ajinomoto Co. and AGF.

Mondelez has been actively focussing on its snacks business since it spun off from Kraft Foods in 2012. Last year it announced an agreement with Dutch coffee maker Douwe Egberts to form a merger, which gives the Dutch company a controlling stake in its coffee business, to be named Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE). The move, when approved by EU competition authorities, will create the world's second largest coffee firm, behind Nestle. Mondelez reports that Ajinomoto was invited to join JDE, however it expressed a strong interest in acquiring Mondelez shares in AGF during these discussions.

AGF was established in 1973 as a joint venture between Ajinomoto Co. and General Foods Corporation (currently Mondelez). In the coffee business in Japan, AGF has created new markets for 3 in 1 and other products and has continued to provide new value adapted to consumer needs. With both marketing and technological capabilities, AGF holds the top share in Japan in the home-use coffee products market (excluding canned coffee) and has been expanding sales in the restaurant and institutional-use business. Currently, AGF provides a wide range of high-quality beverage products in addition to coffee, including tea and cocoa. Ajinomoto Co. and Mondelez have been holding ongoing discussions on AGF’s operating format. Motivated by the current global reorganization of Mondelez’s coffee business, Ajinomoto Co. had considered making AGF a consolidated subsidiary, which led to the agreement.

As part of its aim to become ‘a genuine global specialty company’, Ajinomoto Co. is reinforcing its business structure and working to expand into adjacent business domains (products adjacent to existing product domains and adjacent markets) for rapid growth. After making AGF a consolidated subsidiary, Ajinomoto Co. intends to expand AGF’s business scale together with its current management and employees. Both companies will reinforce their business structures by promoting cooperation in each division and generate synergy in new product development and production by leveraging their common core of powdered and processed products.

Ajinomoto Co. is scheduled to acquire all shares of AGF held by Mondelez by the end of April, 2015. Ajinomoto Co. will retain AGF’s current management structure, company name and brands after making the company a consolidated subsidiary.

The acquisition will have no impact on results for fiscal 2014.