FDBusiness.com

Following its acquisitions in 2011 and 2012, WILD Flavors, one of the world’s leading producers of natural ingredients for the food and beverage industry, is continuing to pursue its international growth strategy this year. With a strong traditional base in Europe and the US, the well-established company now wants to increase its presence in emerging markets. The current focus is on Asia and South America.

With headquarters in Zug, Switzerland, WILD Flavors was founded on February 25, 2010 to consolidate the global flavor business of the owner, Dr Hans-Peter Wild. Rudolf Wild, which was established in 1931 by Wild’s father Rudolf, was integrated into WILD Flavors. In the course of this restructuring, Dr Wild allocated 35% of the new holding to the private equity company KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) on July 31, 2010. WILD Flavors currently operates 15 production sites for its flavors, ingredients and juice business around the world.

For years, WILD has been investing in the strategic expansion of its global business. “Our key goal is to continue optimizing our access to raw materials on a global basis as well as to keep expanding our logistics and sales networks,” comments Dr Hans-Peter Wild. To this end, in 2011 WILD acquired the AM Todd Group, the international global leader in natural mint oils and components, which maintained production sites in India and the US. In 2012, the company then invested in the juice sector at Cargill, which had state-of-the-art facilities in Amsterdam, Japan and the US.

India is one of the world’s largest growth markets. Acquiring the AM Todd Group gave WILD a subsidiary with a laboratory in Mumbai, among other things. Operations are scheduled to move into a new facility in an up-and-coming part of Mumbai by June 2013. The new site will also feature a lab for beverage applications. To date the employees there had focused on food applications, especially mint. Furthermore, WILD strengthened its team in flavor creation, sales and purchasing in the office in Mumbai. A total of some 30 employees will work for WILD in Mumbai, and the facilities are designed to accommodate future growth.

At its mint manufacturing site at Tarapur in the state of Maharashtra, WILD has also expanded its presence. It invested in a new production unit for fruit flavors. Furthermore, quality control for the raw materials and analysis of the different kinds of mint are conducted at a new lab. The next step will be the local production of beverage systems.

“Our recent investments in locations and staff have greatly enlarged our production capacity and product portfolio for the Indian market,” sayd Cosimo Trimigliozzi, COO of WILD Flavors International, who is behind the expansion in the new markets. “In India we are also in an excellent condition to expand our position there and to offer manufacturers premium natural ingredients for both beverages and food.”

This, however, is not the only news about business growth in Asia. WILD is also currently investing in the city-state of Singapore, where the company opened its first sales office in December 2012. It will serve as the hub for the ASEAN region, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. In addition to the metropolis of Singapore, ASEAN includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. All in all, around 600 million people live here. The new subsidiary WILD Flavors Singapore will be the hub for supplying natural flavors, colors and extracts as well as natural mint flavors and oils to the beverage, dairy and confectionery industry.

In the upcoming years, WILD is planning to continue expanding its activities in ASEAN countries. WILD Flavors Singapore is scheduled to take on a laboratory for regional product development, and other sales offices in Thailand and Indonesia are to follow.

In addition to Asia, the Brazilian market is also full of promise for tomorrow’s food and beverage industry. “Over 190 million people live inSouth America’s most populous country: the middle class there is constantly growing, and consumers are willing to experiment. They like new flavors and innovative products. This gives us a great deal of potential,” Cosimo Trimigliozzi explains.

The beverage sector in particular is very promising. Based on current market data, annual growth of 3-5% can be anticipated. These figures are forecast for newer segments such as energy drinks as well as the market for classic soft drinks, which has become the world’s third largest.

At the moment WILD is expanding its position in Brazil. In addition to increasing its current business – WILD has maintained a branch office with a laboratory in Sao Paulo since 2000 – the corporation is also negotiating with a local manufacturer of extracts and flavorings. As a leading source of flavors, extracts, emulsions and compounds for the Brazilian market, it is an ideal complement to WILD’s portfolio and will provide direct access to the local market.

Dr Hans-Peter Wild is very satisfied with the major potential that the recent investments are opening up in these new markets. “We have set our course towards successfully expanding outside of Europe and the US. The growth prognoses are outstanding, especially in Asia and Brazil. In the mid-term, our company is certainly going to be able to exceed average market growth.”