Kerry Ingredients & Flavours today confirmed that it has completed the acquisition of the Cape Town-based sweet ingredient solutions supplier, Orley Foods, for an undisclosed sum.

Orley Foods is part of the Libstar Holdings Group and has a 50-year history of providing sweet ingredients for the confectionery, ice cream, beverage, cereal, dairy and bakery markets.

It boasts five production technologies: chocolate, Gemz (bake-stable, soft fruit cubes), fondant, non-dairy toppings and liquid sugar. Orley products find numerous applications: for coating, decoration, dipping, enrobing, filling, moulding, as inclusions, ingredients and toppings.

The Orley Foods deal comes a year after Kerry’s acquisition of FlavourCraft, also in South Africa, and complements the earlier purchase of Cargill’s global flavour business. It is the latest step, it says, in a journey to becoming the innovation and development partner of choice for the world’s leading food and beverage brands as they start to meet fast-growing local appetites for the next generation of products in EMEA.

Commenting on the deal, Scott Scharinger, President EMEA Developing Markets for Kerry Ingredients & Flavours, said: “This is a key part of our strategy to work alongside our global customer base, finding ways to deliver our unique range of ingredient and flavour technologies and food science know-how in the territories where they are being consumed.

"Although South Africa is an important market for us in its own right, it is also the springboard for our expansion into other important and growing sub-Saharan countries such as Nigeria and Kenya."

He adds: "Kerry is very lucky to have found a business with such fine management talent. We expect the current staff to remain with us. As it has value in the South African market, we will retain the Orley name and utilise as the market dictates."

Craig Henry, CEO of Orley Foods (left) said: "We are very proud to become the newest member of the fast-expanding Kerry family. What’s particularly exciting for us is joining one of the world’s largest and most highly qualified teams of food scientists and product innovators, with all the benefits that this will bring to our customers old and new."

Scott adds: "Kerry is the only company that can provide a portfolio of technology-based ingredients and flavours for all sectors of the food, beverage and pharma markets. We have the scale for global execution but, as this acquisition underlines, we can also tailor for regional tastes, aligning our ingredients and flavours offering with customer needs in developed and developing markets.

"Over the months ahead, we will continue consolidating the elements of our South African footprint under our One Kerry model, which will better enable us to deliver value to our customers in the region. The coming year is going to be an exciting one for Kerry."

About Kerry:

Kerry is a world leader in food ingredients and flavours serving the food and beverage industry and a leading supplier of added value foodservice brands. Headquartered in Tralee, Ireland, the Group has revenues of approximately €5.8 billion and employs some 24 000 people throughout its manufacturing, sales and technology centres around the world. Kerry supplies over 15 000 products to customers in more than 140 countries worldwide.

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