WILD Flavors to Acquire Cargill's Juice Business

The acquisition will provide WILD with over US$200 million in additional annual sales and three ocean-access tank farms in the strategic growth areas of Asia, Europe and North America. The transaction is subject to antitrust approvals.

17 April 2012 --- WILD Flavors GmbH has signed an agreement with Cargill to acquire their global juice cold blends and compounds business to strengthen its position as a leading natural ingredients company for the food and beverage industry. The acquisition will provide WILD with over US$200 million in additional annual sales and three ocean-access tank farms in the strategic growth areas of Asia, Europe and North America. Terms of the deal, which includes three ocean-access tank farms in Japan, The Netherlands, and the United States, were not announced. The transaction is subject to antitrust approvals.

Cargill's juice cold blends and compounds business is a worldwide leading provider of tailor-made juice blends and compounds for high-fruit content beverages as well as juice concentrates. It operates a global network of production and state-of-the-art tank and storage facilities. They are located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Port Elizabeth in the US and in Chiba and Kashima in Japan. These locations will be important assets to support WILD Flavors¹ ambitious global growth strategy.

"This acquisition is a key step to continually grow a differentiated and integrated supply chain for juices to the benefit of our customers. Cargill¹s business will provide improved raw material access while strengthening our existing juice capabilities," said Michael Ponder, CEO of WILD Flavors GmbH. "By broadening our product offering and by providing a truly global supply chain, our customers will profit from WILD Flavor¹s unique full-solution approach as the single source of supply for every ingredient needed to produce a high-quality, finished beverage product."

Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst Stefanie Weitz, Head of Investor Relations & Group Communication at WILD, said: “It is a nice fit with our existing juice capabilities and we are already active in this area. We can expand the product offering that we bring to our customers, especially in the area of cold blends. In that area we can significantly increase our strengths. So the business is a nice fit as it broadens our existing capabilities.

“WILD Flavors is a company that has been looking for potential acquisition targets, as every company does. This is really a perfect opportunity for us.

“Right now we are at the moment where we have found agreement to acquire the company. We are going through this antitrust approval process which will take two to three months, but once we have completed that process the acquisition will recoup the investment and give us an increased level of ability."

Paul Naar, Head of Cargill¹s food ingredients businesses in Europe commented: "Cargill is selling 35 years of experience in the global juice based beverage industry, where it built a strong position in local sourcing, supply chain management, application know-how and reliable, food safe, production." Naar continued: "combining with WILD will lead to a bigger scale and add even more capabilities which will create new opportunities for customers."

by Michael Holt