Yoni Glickman, President of Frutarom’s Natural Solutions business, discussed the company’s multi-billion acquisition by International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) at Vitafoods Europe in Geneva.
Both companies announced details of a $7.1 billion acquisition two weeks ago, but this was the first opportunity that FoodBev’s Alex Clere had to delve deeper into the details and the benefits for both sides.
“I think the benefits are for both companies,” Glickman explained. “The two companies are very, very complementary. In the flavours space, our core business has always been around the small- and medium-sized customers globally so that’s really where we’ve focused our business for the last 80 years. IFF’s focus is on the large-tier multinational companies, so from that point of view it’s a very, very complementary deal. It gives the combined company access to the whole spectrum of flavour companies – food and beverage companies – from large multinationals to small, medium-sized, local, innovative companies where our focus has been.”
Over the past couple of years, Frutarom has been beefing itself up and has proven to be one of the most acquisitive companies in the food and beverage industry. 11 acquisitions in 2017 followed eight acquisitions in 2016 as the company continue to successfully execute an ambitious growth strategy, which – as Frutarom CEO Ori Yehudai told FoodBev last August – includes a target of $2 billion in sales by 2020.
The Israel-based company had already announced two acquisitions at the start of this year, before news of IFF’s $7.1 billion acquisition.
In conversation with FoodBev, Glickman dispels the idea that Frutarom’s acquisition strategy itself had prompted IFF’s interest but said that there should be no reason why, following completion, those ambitious targets for growth shouldn’t be exceeded.
Presented and edited by: Alex Clere
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