Tate & Lyle acquires US-based ingredient firm CP Kelco 

British-headquartered global supplier of food and beverage products Tate & Lyle today has entered a £1.4 billion agreement to purchase US ingredients firm CP Kelco and its subsidiaries.

The London-based group announced today (20) that it has acquired CP Kelco and its subsidiaries from its current owners, J.M. Huber Corporation and is set to take control of its three divisions in US, China and Denmark.

CP Kelco is known as a provider of pectin, speciality gums and other nature-based ingredients and has a global workforce of around 1,700 employees working out of seven facilities and two global innovation centres.

Over the last six years, Tate & Lyle has been executing a major strategic transformation to become a growth-focused speciality food and beverage solutions business aligned to attractive structural and growing consumer trends for healthier, tastier and more sustainable food and drink. This transformation has included a much sharper focus on customers and key categories, increased investment in innovation and solution selling capabilities, and the significant strengthening of its sweetening, mouthfeel and fortification platforms through new product development and acquisitions.

Nick Hampton, CEO of Tate & Lyle (pictured below), said, “A combination with CP Kelco is the perfect fit with Tate & Lyle’s growth-focused strategy and purpose. It significantly strengthens our Sweetening, Mouthfeel and Fortification platforms, enhances our solutions capabilities across our four core categories, and unlocks new growth opportunities. Together, we will have a compelling customer proposition. With our leading portfolio of speciality ingredients and a world-class team of food science experts, we will be uniquely placed to provide our customers with the solutions they need to meet growing consumer demand for healthier, tastier and more sustainable food and drink.

“We’ve been collaborating with CP Kelco on innovation projects for many years and are very aware of their excellent products and the outstanding capabilities of their people. We are excited about the opportunities the combination will create for customers across the world, and the opportunities for employees in both companies to develop their careers across a broader global business.

“Following on from the announcement of the proposed sale of our remaining interest in Primient last month, the proposed combination with CP Kelco represents a significant acceleration of our growth-focused strategy. It creates a leading, global speciality food and beverage solutions business, ideally placed to benefit from the structural trends towards more plant-based, clean-label and sustainable ingredients and solutions. The growth potential of the proposed combined business is significant and we look forward to the future with confidence and excitement.”

Didier Viala, President, CP Kelco said, “We are delighted to be joining with Tate & Lyle to create a leading and differentiated speciality food and beverage solutions business. CP Kelco and Tate & Lyle are both highly customer-focused businesses with a shared passion for science and innovation. With our complementary portfolio and deep technical expertise, we will bring new value to our customers and new opportunities for our employees. This is an exciting time for our combined businesses.”