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Austrian food ingredients group Agrana is planning to acquire flavour specialist Esarom in a move designed to strengthen its position in tailored food and beverage solutions and expand its formulation capabilities.

Founded in 1946, Esarom develops and produces a range of ingredients, including flavours, bases, powders, emulsions, functional blends, and stabilisers, for the food and beverage sector. The company has around 400 employees and generated revenues of €112 million in its 2025 financial year.

The companies' complementary capabilities could allow customers to source a wider range of formulation and ingredient solutions from a single supplier, while also supporting joint product development. Agrana says the combination is expected to accelerate innovation and strengthen its presence in attractive growth regions.

The planned integration would also create an Austrian three-site production cluster, combining Esarom’s facilities in Oberrohrbach and Rückersdorf with Agrana's site in Kröllendorf.

According to Agrana, the objective is to bring production, product development and application expertise closer together, while aligning customer relationship management. The group expects this to give customers a broader portfolio and greater scope to develop tailored products collaboratively.

The acquisition would add significant formulation and market expertise to Agrana’s existing capabilities. Esarom’s strong export focus is particularly relevant to Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia, regions where the company has established customer relationships and market knowledge.

Agrana said the agreed enterprise value is around €150 million, based on an EBITDA multiple of 9.0x. The transaction also includes conventional price adjustment mechanisms and success-based purchase price components designed to mitigate risks for both parties.

The share purchase agreement is expected to be signed shortly. Completion remains subject to the necessary antitrust approvals and, according to Agrana, is currently expected at the beginning of its 2027/28 financial year.

The deal represents another step in Agrana’s strategy to develop Food & Beverage Solutions as a growth platform. The group currently employs around 8,400 people across 50 production facilities worldwide and generates approximately €3.2 billion in annual revenue. Its activities include fruit preparations, juice concentrates, sugar, starch products and bioethanol.