Houlihan Lokey Advises Natural Flavors

Houlihan Lokey's Consumer, Food & Retail Group is pleased to announce that Natural Flavors, Inc., has been acquired by Firmenich. The transaction closed on February 1, 2018.

Headquartered in Newark, New Jersey, Natural Flavors is recognized as a pioneer in organic flavors, having developed and commercialized the first certified organic flavors in North America during the late 1990s. Today, Natural Flavors offers an extensive range of certified organic and natural flavor solutions to meet the needs of food and beverage customers in high-growth, in-demand categories.

Firmenich is the world’s largest privately owned fragrance and flavor company. Founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1895, Firmenich has created many of the world’s best-known perfumes and flavors that billions of consumers enjoy each day. Firmenich’s passion for smell and taste is at the heart of its success. The company is renowned for its world-class research and creativity as well as its thought leadership in sustainability and exceptional understanding of consumer trends. Each year it invests 10% of its turnover in R&D, reflecting its continuous desire to understand, share, and sublimate the best that nature has to offer. Firmenich had an annual turnover of 3.3 billion Swiss francs at the end of June 2017.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Natural Flavors and assisted in structuring and negotiating the transaction on its behalf. This deal represents another successful transaction for Houlihan Lokey in the food & beverage industry.