American McCormick & Co has acquired Reckitt Benckiser’s food division for 4.2 billion dollars (3.6 billion euro), trumping Unilever to the purchase.
Hot sauce
McCormick & Co is mostly active in the spices industry and wants to use Reckitt Benckiser’s food division to help expand its sauce activities. It firmly believes the so-called “hot sauces” have a bright future ahead. It also attempted to acquire Premier Foods (which owns brands like Oxo) last year, but that bid was refused.
The acquisition results in a company with a 5 billion dollar (4.3 billion euro) turnover. Reckitt Benckiser’s food division generated a 411 million pound (465 million euro) turnover last year and McCormick forecasts up to 50 million dollars (43.3 million euro) in synergies.
It was revealed earlier this week that Unilever was also interested in the food division, which had to please a group of shareholders looking for more short-term profit.
