Frutarom Boosts African Market Presence; Buys JannDeRee for $5.2M

Frutarom Industries Ltd. (Haifa, Israel), which has recently further strengthened its African market presence by adding sales personnel in key countries such as Nigeria, has acquired South African flavors company JannDeRee for $5.2 million.

JannDeRee, which had 2012 sales of about $5 million, was founded in 1993 and develops, manufactures, and markets flavors with an emphasis on savory flavors and sweet flavor solutions. The company, which has been growing rapidly over the last few years, has a research and development, production and marketing site in Johannesburg, South Africa, located adjacent to Frutarom's South African site, and a wide customer base in South Africa and in other important emerging countries in the sub-Saharan region such as Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Frutarom said it will take immediate actions to integrate activities including integration of R&D, marketing and sales infrastructures, purchase, production and supply. JannDeRee's management, headed by its managing director, will become part of Frutarom's management in Africa, and they will act jointly to accelerate Frutarom's growth in the region.

"The acquisition of JannDeRee continues the implementation of Frutarom's rapid and profitable growth strategy and the realization of its vision 'To be the preferred partner for tasty and healthy success,’” said Ori Yehudai, Frutarom’s president and CEO. “The acquisition will substantially strengthen Frutarom's positioning in these fast growing regions of Africa. The acquisition contributes to the expansion of our product portfolio for countries in Africa, to the strengthening of our management, research and development, manufacturing, marketing and sales capacities in the area of savory flavors (an area where Frutarom has not yet been active in Africa)."

Yehudai concluded: "We continue to seek out strategic acquisitions and to implement our rapid growth strategy combining profitable internal growth and acquisitions. Frutarom continues to accelerate its growth in both developed and emerging markets. We will continue to invest in the fast growing regions of Asia, Central and South America, Central and Eastern Europe and Africa, following a market share in emerging markets which has grown from 27% in 2010 to 36% in 2012."

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