Blue Pacific Flavors Announces Strategic Investment by Wilmar International

The investment allows Blue Pacific Flavors to focus on continuing its leadership in true-fruit and whole food flavor creation while strengthening capabilities in natural flavors and extracts.

Feb 3 2012 --- Blue Pacific Flavors, a leading developer and manufacturer of natural and organic-compliant fruit flavors, announces a strategic capital investment by Asia's leading agribusiness group, Wilmar International Limited. Blue Pacific Flavors joins Wilmar International Limited's group of associated companies.

Blue Pacific Flavors will maintain all domestic production of flavors and ingredients for its U.S. clientele from its headquarters manufacturing facility and R&D center in City of Industry, Calif. The company will continue all global operations including its facilities in China, offices in Malaysia, South Korea and the Philippines. Donald Wilkes remains unchanged in his role as CEO and Chairman of Blue Pacific Flavors' Board of Directors.

Headquartered in Singapore, Wilmar's business activities include oil palm cultivation, oilseeds crushing, edible oils refining, sugar milling and refining, specialty fats, oleochemicals, biodiesel and fertilizers manufacturing and grains processing. The company has more than 300 manufacturing plants and a distribution network throughout China, India, Indonesia and some 50 other countries.

Wilmar's Chairman and CEO Kuok Khoon Hong and Chief Scientific Advisor Professor Chua Nam-Hai join the Blue Pacific Flavors' Board of Directors.

"Wilmar's supply chain enables us to expand our capabilities and distribution in whole fruit and grain based food flavoring and natural food ingredients," said Blue Pacific Flavors CEO Donald F. Wilkes. "The dynamics of this partnership will exponentially grow our Chinese and Southeast Asian manufacturing footprint and distribution to a wide range of new customers, while also supporting our North America business and core customer base."

The investment allows Blue Pacific Flavors to focus on continuing its leadership in true-fruit and whole food flavor creation while strengthening capabilities in natural flavors and extracts. In addition, the investment will provide significant capital resources and the potential to expand basic flavor research platforms as well as an existing licensing partnership with The New Zealand Institute of Plant and Food Research Ltd.

"Our shared values and passion for innovative, high quality whole food ingredients and natural products will provide many new and exciting growth opportunities as we meet the needs of the evolving, health conscious consumers," added Wilkes.