Frutarom has purchased 60% of the Vietnamese company Western Flavors Fragrances Production (“WFF”) for approx. $1.3 million. The purchase agreement includes an option for purchasing the balance of WFF shares beginning four years from completion of the transaction at a price based on the future business performance of WFF during that period. WFF’s sales volume in the 12 month period ended February 2017 totalled approx. $1.5 million.

WFF was founded in 2003, has 44 employees and engages in the development, production and marketing of flavours, mostly in the field of sweet flavours and with emphasis on the dairy, beverages, confectionery and baked goods segments. The company has a broad portfolio of products and around 300 customers from among the leaders in their fields in Vietnam. WFF has a plant and laboratory in southern Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City and a sales and marketing office in Hanoi, in the country’s northern region, and is one of a handful of flavours producers in the Vietnamese market having a research, development and applications laboratory, production site and local sales and marketing platform. Frutarom says it intends to build a modern new flavours plant in Ho Chi Minh City which will enable it to significantly expand its activity in the Vietnamese market and in the growing countries of the region.

WFF’s activity is said to be synergistic with Frutarom’s activity in Vietnam and Southeast Asia in the field of sweet flavours which has grown in recent years at a faster rate than the market. The acquisition of WFF is part of the fulfilment of Frutarom’s strategy to significantly expand its activity in Asia. In pursuit of this, Frutarom acquired in 2015 the Indian flavours company Sonarome and the Chinese taste solutions company Inventive, and in 2016 inaugurated a new flavours plant, including an advanced R&D laboratory, in Shanghai, China.

Frutarom says it intends to continue significantly expanding its activity in Asia based both on rapid organic growth and an interesting acquisition pipeline including in additional key regional countries, along with optimal exploitation of the many cross-selling opportunities and taking steps to integrate the procurement, production, R&D and sales and marketing platforms in the countries of the region.