Dive Brief:
- 佛罗里达的食品有acquired the majority stake in Comax Manufacturing Corp.from the Calabretta family, which founded the New York-based natural flavors provider more than 40 years ago. The Calabretta family will keep an equity stake in the combined business. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
- FFP, which produces naturally sourced vegetable, tea, botanical and coffee extracts for applications in beverages, processed and cured meat, and plant-based meat alternatives, saidComax'snatural flavors will help make it a "go-to source" for clean label ingredients. Comax will become part of FFP's taste division and continue to operate its manufacturing plant in Melville, New York, and oversee R&D at its Marlton, New Jersey, facility.
- The acquisition demonstrates FFP's intent at grabbing a leading share of the natural ingredients space, as consumers' embrace of clean labels grows and proves attractive to investors eager to cash in.
Dive Insight:
FFP's acquisition of Comax demonstrates the growing role of private equity in driving consolidation within the ingredients space.
In September, private investment firmArdian acquired a majority stake in FFPfrom MidOcean Partners in a deal valued at $1 billion.MidOcean had bought FFPfrom Kainos Capital in 2018 for an undisclosed amount. Up until that point, Florida-based FFP had beenprivately owned by the Brown familysince its founding in 1954.
When Ardian acquiredFFP, one of its main goals was toincrease investment in R&D and ramp up strategic acquisitions. The purchase of Comax likely represents the first of many deals to roll out in the coming years, as FFP aims to become what CEO Jim Holdrieth described as "the industry’s largest independent provider of natural ingredients."
Comaxhas nearly 1,000SKUsformulated to replace synthetic flavors and ingredients designed to improve texture and extend shelf life. The company has been busy expanding its global footprint in recent years, opening an Innovation Center and Flavor Manufacturing Facility in China in 2018, as well as its 3,600-square-foot R&D facility in New Jersey.
"We are excited to partner with the FFP, Ardian, and MidOcean teams, who share our belief that natural ingredients provide consumers with healthier options while offering our customers high-quality alternatives to traditional, synthetic ingredients,"ComaxCEO PeterCalabrettaJr. said in a statement. "This partnership gives Comax access to new technologies, ingredients, and distribution that will accelerate the existing Comax business and provide more solutions and capabilities for our valued customers."
FFP will provide "a more robust infrastructure" to Comax,according to an FAQ briefprovided by the company. Their combined manufacturing capabilities will include extraction, fermentation, wet and dry blending, drying and formulation. The Floridian company has been busy adding to its own line of clean label alternatives. It recently introduced VegStablePlus, a natural phosphate alternative for meat, and a line of fermented vegetable juices for flavor and taste enhancement in plant-based foods and other applications.
The burgeoningtrend toward clean labelhas driven several M&A deals over the past year, includingKerry's $1 billion purchase of preservatives specialist Niacet, Ingredion'sacquisition of texture and stabilization provider KaTechin April, and Kemin's purchase of Proteus, a protein ingredients provider.
