Ajinomoto Cooks Up A Menu For Acquisition: To Buy Windsor Quality Holdings
Ajinomoto Cooks Up A Menu For Acquisition: To Buy Windsor Quality Holdings
Japanese food conglomerate Ajinomoto Co. has indicated it will purchase Texas based firm Windsor Quality Holdings LP. The Texan frozen food company will add a royal touch to Ajinomoto's current set up and the Japanese company is sad to be paying a cool $800 million dollars for this. The Japanese firm is known for producing the famous MSG which enhances the taste of food in many restaurants. Apart from these seasonings, it is also known for producing cooking oils.
Ajinomoto has announced that it is going to complete the purchase of Windsor Quality's shares in the later part of this year. Windsor Quality has its official headquarters in Houston. So far Houston has no problem as far as the Texan firm is concerned. Windsor Quality notched up sales of USD 666.1 in the past year. The brands sold by this frozen food company include Bernardi and Ling Ling.
Ajinomoto is also looking to capitalise on the international market since a long time now. Its recent steps have been leading up to new acquisitions for some time now. The company is a leader in amino acids. Ajinomoto purchased Althea Technologies Inc. last year. The latter is a San Diego based bio-pharmceutical firm which was sold for S175 million to Ajinomoto last year.
The deal is one of the most recent in number of acquisitions by the food and beverage industry in Japan. As the population of the country is lessening, and its domestic market is ageing, many of the Japanese companies are seeking growth in international shores.
Overseas expansion has become the order of the day as companies are finding new avenues of growth and expansion in foreign shores. The market is saturated at home and Asian as well as Latin American markets are now calling the Japanese food industry. This is no siren call but an actual opportunity for growth and development. Consider the latest developments in this industry. In the month of May, the Mizkan Group acquired the pasta sauces business of Unilever specifically the Ragu and Bertolli brands for a whopping USD 2.15 billion. Now Ajinomoto seeks to make a deal that will set off new aromas for growth and expansion.
The Japanese food giant also sought to purchase Swiss based drinks flavor company Wild Flavors which it lose to Archer Daniels Midland. Though it may not be a good shot in past bidding, this time the Japanese firm is a winner. "We aim to expand our frozen food business in the North America to the ¥100 billion level by fiscal 2020 and to achieve the top position in the Japanese and Asian frozen food markets," Ajinomoto said in a statement.
Windsor Quality Holdings is an unlisted firm, but it has many opportunities for growth through the new turn of events. From what Ajinomoto is planning, this could be the perfect recipe for success for companies in the Japanese food and beverages industry.
