Barry Callebaut completes acquisition of Petra Foods’ cocoa ingredients division

Swiss company Barry Callebaut has completed the acquisition of the cocoa ingredients business of Singapore-based Petra Foods for about $860m, following approval from the regulatory authorities.

Petra Foods’ cocoa ingredients division is a leading cocoa products supplier in Asia and it has a sales volume of 265,000t globally.

The division has seven processing facilities in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Germany and France, with total bean grinding capacity of 405,000t, and sales offices in Singapore, the Netherlands and the US.

It has annual sales of CHF1.1bn ($1.17bn) and employs 1,700 people.

The combination of the two businesses makes Barry Callebaut the world’s largest cocoa and chocolate manufacturer and creates an organisation with more than 8,000 employees.

With this acquisition, Barry Callebaut is expanding its offering to industrial chocolate, outsourcing and gourmet customers, while increasing its sales volume in the fast-growing emerging markets.

Barry Callebaut will maintain its regional structure including region Europe (Western Europe and EEMEA), region Americas and region Asia-Pacific, and will continue to operate its cocoa business, which is now termed as Global Cocoa globally.

The newly acquired Petra Foods’ cocoa ingredients division will be integrated into Global Cocoa and the integration process is expected to be completed within 12 to 18 months.

The combined entity is expected to have annual sales volume of 1.6 million tonnes and revenues of CHF6bn ($6.4bn).

This acquisition, which diversifies Barry Callebaut’s global footprint to 50 factories on four continents, is complementary to the company’s existing business and will support further growth of its chocolate business.

The company plans to further expand its cocoa sourcing and processing activities in origin countries by establishing a second strong base in Asia, besides West Africa.

Barry Callebaut chief executive officer Juergen Steinemann said that the Petra Foods cocoa business is right at the core of Barry Callebaut and that the company will benefit from expertise of its 1,800 new employees.

"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 speciality cocoa powders even better," Steinemann added.

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Image: Petra Foods’ cocoa ingredients division will be integrated into Barry Callebaut’s newly formed Global Cocoa unit. Photo courtesy of Barry Callebaut.