Publish Date : 09-Jul-2014
Archer Daniels Midland Company today announced that it is acquiring WILD Flavors GmbH, giving ADM the ability to offer food and beverage companies a comprehensive suite of systems to enhance and improve their products.
In an all-cash transaction valued at approximately €2.3 billion enterprise value, ADM will pay €2.2 billion to WILD Flavors shareholders Dr. Hans-Peter Wild and funds affiliated with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P., and assume approximately €0.1 billion of net debt. The transaction is contingent on regulatory approvals and is expected to close by year end.
"This acquisition expands ADM's ability to serve customers' evolving needs today and well into the future," said ADM Chairman and CEO Patricia Woertz. "Natural flavor and ingredients is one of the largest and fastest-growing consumer trends in both developed and emerging markets, and WILD Flavors is the world's leading provider of natural flavor systems to the food and beverage industry."
WILD Flavors, with more than 3,000 customers worldwide and estimated 2014 net revenues of about €1 billion, offers food and beverage companies full flavor and ingredient solutions—known as flavor systems—and fruit juice concentrates and blends, as well as other food and beverage ingredients, including natural flavors and extracts, mint oils and flavors, colors from natural sources, sweetening systems, seasonings, specialty ingredients, taste modifiers, and fermentation technologies.
"Together, ADM and WILD Flavors will create one of the leading flavor and specialty ingredient companies in the world, with sales approaching $2.5 billion and significant room to grow," Woertz said. "WILD Flavors will be able to reach more customers with an expanded portfolio of innovative ingredients. And ADM, with our own sizeable specialty ingredient business, will have an enhanced platform for the commercialization of our higher-margin food and wellness ingredients.
"Together, we will be uniquely positioned to offer a broad range of customers—from the largest CPG's to fast-growing innovators—comprehensive systems-based solutions for food, beverage and personal care products. With our combined global networks, world-class research & innovation capabilities, WILD Flavors' natural flavor systems, and ADM's texture, nutrition and functional solutions, we will create an unmatched capability to respond to local consumer preferences and offer complete food solutions that taste great.
"The addition of WILD Flavors balances and extends our value chain," Woertz said. "It is consistent with our long-term strategy to diversify the crops we process and expand and diversify our product portfolio. It complements the ingredient, organic-growth investments we've recently made—including our Brazil protein complex and soluble-fiber expansion in China.
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