Tate & Lyle and Xuzhou Yitong Food to establish JV in China

Tate & Lyle has entered into an agreement with Xuzhou Yitong Food to establish a joint venture (JV) – Tate & Lyle Howbetter – through the acquisition of a 51% stake in Jiangsu Howbetter Food, a leading food business in China.

Howbetter provides stabiliser systems and ingredient blends for customers across China, primarily in the dairy and beverage segments.

The company operates a blending facility in Suqian and application laboratories in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province.

Under the terms of the deal, Tate & Lyle will acquire a 22% stake in Howbetter Food from Yitong and the remaining 29% from SB International, a subsidiary of a European food company which has been a shareholder in Howbetter since 2009.

Tate & Lyle will also have an option to acquire Yitong’s remaining 49% stake in Howbetter at a later stage.

The transaction is expected to receive regulatory approval later this year.

Tate & Lyle Speciality Food Ingredients president Olivier Rigaud said: "The combination of Tate & Lyle’s global blending capabilities and recipe know-how with Howbetter’s strong local expertise and infrastructure provides us with an excellent platform on which to accelerate the growth of our Food Systems business in China."

Xuzhou Yitong Food chairman and Howbetter general manager Feng Guang said that Tate & Lyle and Howbetter are highly complementary businesses with the same focus on quality and customer service.

"Together, we will be able to offer our customers in China a significantly enhanced range of products and technical expertise," Guang added.

Feng Guang will serve as the general manager of Tate & Lyle Howbetter.

Tate & Lyle is a global provider of ingredients and solutions to the food, beverage and other industries.

The company operates through two global business units, Speciality Food Ingredients and Bulk Ingredients, and has more than 30 production facilities worldwide.