Olam International has swooped for BT Cocoa, Indonesia’s largest cocoa processor, in a move aimed at capitalising on Asia’s booming cocoa industry.
The deal, which sees Olam acquire an 85% share of the business for $90 million, sees the food and agri-business add 120,000 metric tonnes of cocoa bean processing capacity and 30,000 metric tonnes of cocoa mass processing capacity to its portfolio.
“We are excited to have the opportunity to rapidly expand our footprint in Asia and to develop this business with the founder and family of BT Cocoa,” said Olam Cocoa CEO Gerard A. Manley.
“Our longstanding relationship will enable us to deliver world class cocoa ingredients and services to our expanded customer base and look to strengthen these relationships in the future in one of the fastest growing regions in the world.”
Olam Cocoa has been working closely with BT Cocoa for nearly 3 years through a Business Collaborative Agreement and has already made considerable financial and operational improvements, including helping BT Cocoa achieve a 30% reduction in energy consumption.
Olam said the acquisition supports the worldwide positive growth trend of chocolate and cocoa ingredient consumption and the expectation that the need for cocoa processing will continue to grow, supported by additional investment in cocoa producing and consuming countries.
The Indonesian cocoa industry
Olam Cocoa has been operating in Indonesia since 1996 and is currently the country’s largest exporter of cocoa beans.
Since that time, $20 million in premiums have been paid to cocoa farmers and 5 million cocoa tree seedlings distributed.
Today Olam Cocoa includes 65,500 Indonesian cocoa farmers across 6 provinces in sustainability programmes.
Piter Jasman of BT Cocoa said: “The relationship with Olam Cocoa represents a powerful opportunity for BT Cocoa to significantly expand our market with enhancements to quality, safety and ethically responsible cocoa products.
“The past 3 years of collaboration has clearly demonstrated the potential for delivering better value. The combination of Olam Cocoa’s expertise as the leading global supplier and processor of sustainable cocoa, with BT Cocoa’s strong local network, will provide our customers with increasing benefits.”
