Barry Callebaut: world's largest cocoa supplier

ZURICH – Barry Callebaut, the world's leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa and chocolate products, said Monday that it had successfully closed the acquisition of the Cocoa Ingredients Division from Singapore-based Petra Foods Ltd. as planned on June 30, 2013, following approval from the regulatory authorities. The combination of the two businesses makes Barry Callebaut the world's largest cocoa and chocolate manufacturer, fully integrated from bean sourcing to the manufacture of the finest chocolate products.

It creates an organization with over 8,000 employees, an estimated annual sales volume of 1.6 million tonnes and CHF 6 billion (€4.9 billion / USD 6.4 billion) in sales revenue, as well as further diversifying Barry Callebaut’s global footprint to 50 factories on four continents.

Juergen Steinemann, Barry Callebaut's CEO, said the acquisition will support the further growth of the company’s existing chocolate business. “Being now also the largest global supplier of high-quality cocoa products, we will be able to capture opportunities in the fast-growing markets for specialty cocoa powders even better," Mr Steinemann said.

Implementation of the integration master plan is to start immediately and expected to be completed within 12-18 months. "We are pleased that with the successful closing of the transaction, we can start to implement what we have prepared in the last six months and focus on the integration process," he added.

Excellent strategic fit

The acquisition of the Cocoa Ingredients Division is highly complementary to Barry Callebaut's existing business and will support the further growth of the company's chocolate business. It is a strategic investment and in line with Barry Callebaut's strategy based on the four pillars Expansion, Innovation, Cost Leadership and Sustainable Cocoa.

With the closing of the transaction, Barry Callebaut is broadening its offering to industrial chocolate, outsourcing and Gourmet customers and significantly expanding its sales volume in the fast-growing emerging markets. The acquisition will add comprehensive cocoa processing and powder blending expertise as well as a deep understanding of Asian and Latin American markets. It will also reinforce Barry Callebaut's cost leadership in cocoa processing by enlarging its footprint in cost-competitive production countries, partially replacing future investments in production capacities, while also enabling product flow optimizations. At the same time, Barry Callebaut will further diversify its cocoa sourcing and processing activities in origin countries by creating a second strong base in Asia, besides West Africa.

Integration process

Since the signing of the transaction on December 12, 2012, a joint integration taskforce has developed a master plan to integrate Petra Foods' Cocoa Ingredients Division into Barry Callebaut, which will maintain its regional structure – including Region Europe (Western Europe and EEMEA), Region Americas and Region Asia-Pacific – and continue to run its cocoa business (now called 'Global Cocoa') globally. The newly acquired business will be integrated into Global Cocoa.

In terms of consolidation, two months of the former Cocoa Ingredients Division will be included in Barry Callebaut's annual reporting for fiscal year 2012/13 (ending August 31, 2Air Zoom Pegasus 35