An agreement was reached between the two parties this month (December 2023), with ADM intending to complete the transaction by January 2024.
FDL operates three production facilities and two customer innovation centres in the UK and is projected to end 2023 with approximately $120m (£95m) in sales. The firm employs 235 members of staff, including 40 innovation specialists.
To date, FDL has developed more than 10,000 proprietary flavour formulations and works with food and beverage customers across multiple channels.
Meanwhile, ADM operates innovation centres in Europe, Asia, Latin America and North America, and has acquired multiple firms in the flavour and ingredients industry since 2014. This includes US-based dairy ingredients company Revela Foods, which it completed the acquisition of on 18 December 2023.
“Our ongoing investments to add to our flavors portfolio are helping power our strategic work to build a global leader in nutrition,” said Calvin McEvoy, ADM president of global flavors.
“FDL’s innovative and agile formulation knowledge, deep end-use applications expertise, and strong customer base make them a great addition to ADM’s global flavor capabilities. We are incredibly impressed by the FDL team, and we believe both companies will benefit from each other as we work to expand our reach in key channels, particularly foodservice.”
Eric Beatty, FDL chief executive, added: “We are excited to enter into this agreement with ADM. They’re an ideal partner for us, with global nutrition and flavor capabilities that will provide new opportunities to strengthen FDL’s portfolio of taste and nutrition solutions.
“In turn, the FDL team looks forward to helping add to ADM’s broad offerings with our diverse portfolio of flavour and functional ingredient systems, IP, and capabilities, as well as the entrepreneurial spirit and innovativeness of human talent that has enabled FDL to become a differentiated market leader today. ADM is synonymous with the best in animal and human nutrition, and together, we look forward to delivering new and innovative ingredient solutions to our global customer base in the food and beverage industry.”
In other news, Cakesmiths has become part of rebranded Onore Food Group.
