South Korean food giant CJ CheilJedang Corp. striving to become a global food name said it has taken over U.S.-based Kahiki Foods and Germany’s Mainfrost to expand its presence in the American and European food markets, according to Korean media.
The company said that it completed the two acquisitions but did not disclose the financial terms and other details. The announcement comes amid reports that CJ Group is close to winning a deal to take over U.S. food processor Schwan`s Company for about USD2.5bn, which would be the largest-ever acquisition for the group.
Ohio-based Kahiki Foods is a home meal replacement (HMR) company that supplies products including egg rolls and noodles to big-box discount stores in the U.S. including Walmart and Sam’s Club. Founded in 1961, the company reported USD56.5m in sales last year.
With the addition of Kahiki Foods, CJ CheilJedang now owns four food product manufacturing lines in the U.S. – two in the east, one in the west and Kahiki Foods in the central region. With the four manufacturing sites in the U.S., the Korean company will be able to up its shipments not only to North America but also to South America.
The company also purchased German food company maker Mainfrost, which has been manufacturing some of CJ’s Bibigo brand products such as frozen dumplings that are supplied to European retailers. Mainfrost`s revenue last year reached over 10 billion won, according to CJ CheilJedang. Mainfrost is expected to help the Korean food company expand its presence in Europe.
The latest acquisitions come at a time when CJ Cheiljedang is aggressively seeking to expand its overseas production bases in the U.S., China, Russia and Vietnam to up exports to Southeast Asia, South America and Europe. The company recently announced it would actively seek to take over additional foreign companies to become one of the world`s leading global food companies.
