Kerry Group buys US ingredients manufacturer Ganeden

Kerry Group has today announced it has acquired US probiotic ingredients manufacturer Ganeden.

Ohio-based Ganeden has a revenue of around $25 million and Kerry claimed it has more than 135 patents for technologies in the supplement, food, beverage, nutrition and personal care markets.

The acquisition complements Kerry’s purchase of supplement ingredient brand Wellmune in 2015.

Last year, Ganeden announced a series of new global partnerships to help the company expand its international footprint and drive growth.

It expanded distribution partnerships with a number of local companies, renewing and adding contracts with distributors in Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Kerry’s chief executive Edmond Scanlon has also told investors that Kerry expects to deliver in excess of 10% adjusted earnings per share growth on average per annum over the next five year years.

“This will be delivered through achievement of above industry average volume growth and continued business margin expansion,” he said. “We expect to achieve 3% to 5% volume growth annually on a group-wide basis, with taste and nutrition targeting 4% to 6% growth and consumer foods targeting 2% to 3% growth.”

He added: “Kerry Group has a unique scalable business model which I am confident can deliver the continued organic growth of the business across developed and developing markets as planned.

“We are in a strong position to lead the continued consolidation of our industry, benefiting from the group’s strong balance sheet, scalable business model and geographic footprint.”