Tate & Lyle bulks up food ingredients with $1.8 bln CP Kelco deal
Tate to pay $1.15 bln in cash, rest in shares
J.M. Huber to hold 16% stake in Tate
Tate shares down more than 8%
Updates shares in paragraphs 2 and 8, adds analyst comment in paragraphs 3 and 5
By Radhika Anilkumar
June 20 (Reuters) -Britain's Tate & Lyle TATE.L has struck a $1.8 billion deal to buy U.S.-based CP Kelco to boost its speciality ingredients business and tap demand for plant-based products.
Shares dropped more than 8% after Thursday's announcement, hit by investor concern over CP Kelco performance.
"The deal looks a good fit in terms of scope and size, with a reasonable valuation multiple, although the market will want reassurance that the recent volume decline and margin pressure at CP Kelco reflects cyclical not structural factors," Barclays analysts said in a note.
Sweetener maker Tate & Lyle, which has a market capitalisation of 2.7 billion pounds ($3.4 billion) said it would pay $1.15 billion in cash and issue 75 million new Tate & Lyle shares to CP Kelco's parent company J.M. Huber Corporation.
Barclays noted that CP Kelco's profit margin has dropped about 500 basis points to 17% since 2021, making current profitability lower than its long-term average.
CP Kelco, formed in 2000 by the merger of Kelco and Copenhagen Pectin, provides pectin, speciality gums and other nature-based ingredients such as lily pads, orange peel and seaweed. It was bought by J.M. Huber in 2004.
Tate CEO Nick Hampton said the deal would help the company to meet growing consumer demand for plant-based products with sustainable ingredients and fewer artificial additives.
The company's shares, which fell as much as 8.6% by 1140 GMT, were on track for their biggest one-day fall since March 2020 and were among the biggest fallers on the pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX index.
The proposed transaction is expected to generate cost benefits of at least $50 million by the end of the second financial year after the deal is completed, Tate added.
The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Huber will also become Tate's largest shareholder after the deal, with a stake of about 16%, and will be able to appoint two non-executive directors to the Tate board.
($1 = 0.7870 pounds)
Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru
Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, Mark Potter and David Goodman
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