Swiss flavour and fragrance company Givaudan on Thursday announced the completed acquisition of Nestle's savoury flavour business, Food Ingredients Specialities (FIS) to "further implement its strategic goal of strengthening its core business to become the undisputed leader in creation, technology and innovation within the flavour and fragrance industries."
The acquisition was initially announced on 18 January 2002 and is valued at CHF 750 million (€515.2m).
FIS is a worldwide operating entity, represented in 30 countries. The company manufactures and sells flavour compounds for the food and beverage industry for about CHF 400 million per year. Givaudan, a leader in flavours for food and beverages, stressed in a statement this week that its new acquisition represents a strategically important operational fit for the Swiss company.
FIS's products and experience in the savoury flavours business (soups, sauces, ready meals) should complement Givaudan's activities. The ambitious Swiss company hopes that the it will be able to offer the "most comprehensive product portfolio and technical resources in the world of savoury, that the industry has ever seen", it said this week.
Givaudan has operations in 40 countries worldwide and is represented in a further 69. In 2000 Givaudan recorded sales of CHF 2.4 billion with over 5000 employees.