Miller Magazine Issue: 138 June 2021

34 MILLER / june 2021 NEWS Olam Food Ingredients (OFI) completes acquisition of Olde Thompson at an Enterprise Value (EV) of US$950 million. Transformative US acquisition for OFI’s spices business, enabling further expansion of private label offerings across its portfolio. The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) checked in with corn checkoff organizations and U.S. farmers around the country to get a read on the collective planting progress being made with the U.S. corn crop at the beginning of the 2021 growing season. As of May 9, collective corn planting progress exceeded the five-year average in 13 of the 18 states reporting. Olam Food Ingredients announces that the ac- quisition of leading US private label spices and seasonings manufacturer Olde Thompson, pre- viously announced on April 29, 2021, was suc- cessfully completed on May 17, 2021 at an EV of US$950 million. The acquisition builds on a 15-year partnership with Olde Thompson and marks a significant mile- stone for OFI’s spices business, which is an attrac- tive and growing part of OFI’s overall portfolio. It also expands OFI's private label capabilities and enables the business to provide consumers with a comprehensive range of bold, authentic, natural taste and flavours with end-to-end traceability and sustainability. “The acquisition of Olde Thompson is transfor- mative for our spices business and helps us to broaden our private label offering which is an im- portant part of our growth strategy. Combining the complementary capabilities of OFI’s global orig- ination and sustainable spice supply chain with Olde Thompson’s customer base and expertise in blending and product formulation will help us deliv- er greater value to all our retail customers. We are looking forward to welcoming our new colleagues and working closely with them to ensure that con- sumers can add healthy taste and flavour to all the products they love”, OFI CEO A. Shekhar said. Good progress and a desire for rain were two comments that permeated the conversations among the farmers and farm organization staff with whom the Council spoke. In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its Prospective Plantings report for 2021, a survey of farmers from across the country that helps the USDA calculate how many acres of each crop farmers anticipate planting. According to it, the to- tal estimated acres for corn of all uses is 91.1 mil- lion, with an expected increase of less than one percent compared to the prior year. As of May 9, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), overall, in the 18 states reporting, planting has reached 67 percent, two percent ahead of the same time last year. Those same states reported 20 percent of corn has emerged, compared to 22 percent that had emerged this time last year. The 18 states – Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin – make up 92 percent of the 2020 corn acreage. Olam Food Ingredients completes acquisition of Olde Thompson U.S. corn planting progress ahead of five-year average