Global integration and acceleration of essence and fragrance industry

The world essence and fragrance (F&F) industry is developing towards globalization and intensification. According to the data of IHS Markit, the sales of essence and fragrances of the top 23 companies accounted for about 57% of the total in 1985, and now seven companies account for 50% of the market share, that is, $16.9 billion. Givaudan, the world's largest producer of essence and fragrances, had a market share of about 14% in 2016. The trend of global integration and development in the industry is very obvious.

In recent years, there has been a wave of acquisition in the world essence and fragrance (F&F) industry to promote intensive development. This year, this trend continues. At present, several acquisitions have been announced, such as the industry giant International essence Flavor Company (IFF) announced its acquisition of Israel essence Flavor and Natural Materials Company Frutarom for US $7.1 billion. Nevertheless, the overall concentration of the world essence and fragrance industry is still low. Most essence and fragrance companies in the world belong to small family businesses operating in specific regions and only focus on a specific market segment.

Some large essence and flavor companies hope to gain development momentum through business acquisition to meet consumers' demand for natural essence and flavor. Chihuarton announced in March that it had reached an agreement to acquire 40.6% of the shares of French listed company Naturex at a price of 135 euros per share, for a total price of 522 million euros. Gilles Andrier, CEO of Chihuaton, said that "this huge acquisition of Naturex's shares is in line with our 2020 strategy and aims to provide customers with a wider range of natural products. Chihuaton is a global leader in the field of natural edible essence, and Naturex's strong combination of plant extracts and natural raw materials in the fields of food and beverage, nutrition, health and personal care will form a powerful complement to our business, so as to further enhance our competitiveness."

Earlier this year, Chihuarton also acquired the nutrition department of Centroflora Group in Brazil. Louie D'Amico, President of Chiwharton Food essence, believes that "this acquisition is in line with our desire to support food and beverage companies to develop delicious products and meet consumers' needs for clean labels, organic and natural ingredients."

In 2017, Chihuadon acquired three perfume development companies, including Expressions Parfum é es, Activ International of Switzerland and Vika of the Netherlands. According to data from Chihuarton, the company has spent a total of 691 million Swiss francs on business acquisitions since 2014. These acquired businesses have supplemented the company's organic growth, contributing CHF 315 million to 2017 sales. Currently, some integration activities have been completed, while others are still progressing smoothly.

Symrise, another leading manufacturer in the industry, expanded its spice business in December 2017 by acquiring Brazilian fragrance oil manufacturer Citratus Fragrancias. Achim Daub, Global President of Symrise essence and Cosmetic Ingredients, said, "Brazil is the growth engine of the Latin American market. Over the years, we have been growing at a higher than average growth rate, especially in the spice application market."

In May 2017, Dezhixin also acquired Cobell, a processing vegetable and juice supplier in the UK. "We hope to strengthen our presence in the UK beverage industry through this, as Cobell is firmly rooted in the UK market and an ideal partner for Dexin," said Dirk Bennwitz, President of the Flavor Division for Europe, Middle East, and Africa at Dexin

Frutarom is the undisputed king of acquisition in the field of essence and fragrance. Since 2000, the company has made a total of 53 acquisitions, of which 29 have occurred in the past 5 years. The company's sales increased from $81 million in 2000 to $1.15 billion in 2016, with an average annual growth of 31.4%.

Since this year, the company has continued its acquisition actions, such as purchasing 70% of the shares of Meroar in Argentina, a manufacturer of essence and flavor products, with US $11.2 million, and acquiring Israel Biotechnology Research (IBR), a component manufacturer in the cosmetics and dietary supplements industry, with US $21 million. However, Frutarom itself has also become a target of acquisition. In May, IFF announced that it would acquire Frutarom for $7.1 billion. After the merger of the two companies, it is expected to achieve sales revenue of approximately $5.3 billion in 2018, which will be on par with Chihuaton.

Andreas Fabig, Chairman and CEO of IFF, stated, "Frutarom has a highly attractive product portfolio. The acquisition of Frutarom will provide a good complement to rapidly growing small and medium-sized customers."

Bernstein Research stated that the potential synergies between the two companies after their