The Chief Executive of the Kerry Group, Stan McCarthy, has told Newstalk that the company has sufficient headroom to fund further significant acquisitions over the coming months, following the announcement yesterday it had invested $735m (€640m) in three major deals in the US.
The Tralee-based group has purchased Red Arrow Products - a Wisconsin-based producer of natural smoke flavours - and Island Oasis, a mid-west-based supplier of customised flavours for beverages ranging from coffees to cocktails.
The third acquisition brings Wellmune into the Kerry fold. It’s a producer of natural food, beverage and supplement ingredients, clinically proven to strengthen the immune system, and bolsters Kerry’s growing interest in the food and pharma-nutrition sector.
After years of restructuring, the company is now concentrating on acquiring new businesses.
"We still have lots of head room to make further acquisitions, we still have a number in the pipeline" he told Breakfast Business, adding that this will not be to the same extent that the company has invested so far - but it is likely that new deals will be completed before the end of 2015 - and that it will make further acquisitions into "2016 and beyond."
These recent acquisitions will bring Kerry’s annual turnover to more than €6bn
