British foods business Tate & Lyle is to acquire US nature-based ingredient maker CP Kelco from parent company JM Huber Corporation (Huber) for $1.8 billion.
Tate & Lyle will acquire the entire issued share capital of CP Kelco US, CP Kelco China and Denmark-based CP Kelco ApS together with each of their respective subsidiaries.
The deal to acquire Atlanta-headquartered CP Kelco - a leading provider of pectin, speciality gums and other natural ingredients - is expected to close later this year.
Huber will continue to stay invested in CP Kelco through a shareholding of about 16% in the combined London-based Tate & Lyle/CP Kelco holding company Tate & Lyle PLC, following completion of the transaction.
In addition, Huber will hold two seats on its board of directors, subject to Huber maintaining certain minimum shareholding thresholds in Tate & Lyle PLC.
“For more than 90 years, CP Kelco has served as an innovation partner for companies of all sizes and in more than 100 countries, leveraging our multi-functional, nature-based ingredients across a variety of product formulation challenges and opportunities,” said Didier Viala, President of CP Kelco.
“By joining forces with Tate & Lyle, we can create an ingredient innovation powerhouse—one that’s truly committed to meeting consumer and market needs with a unique portfolio of sustainable solutions and our deep technical and applications expertise,” he added.
