Barry Callebaut closed the acquisition of the cocoa ingredients division from Singapore-based Petra Foods Ltd. on June 30 following approval from regulatory authorities. The combination of the two businesses creates an organization with more than 8,000 employees, estimated annual sales volume of 1.6 million tonnes and estimated annual sales revenue of 6 billion Swiss francs ($6.4 billion).
The acquisition originally was announced Dec. 12, 2012, at a cost of $950 million. Since then a joint task force has developed a plan to integrate Petra Foods’ cocoa ingredients division into Zurich-based Barry Callebaut. The integration is expected to take 12 to 18 months.
Barry Callebaut will maintain its regional structure, including Region Europe, Region Americas and Region Asia-Pacific. The global cocoa business will be called Global Cocoa and will include the cocoa ingredients division acquired from Petra Foods. Two months of results from that division will be included in Barry Callebaut’s fiscal year 2012/13, which ends Aug. 31.
