CITIC Capital buys control of cooking sauce brand Amoy

Ajinomoto will transfer 100% of the shares of Amoy to CITIC Capital Asian Foods Holdings, a joint venture between CITIC Capital China and CITIC Capital Japan, and will take a 15% stake in the JV, according to a statement. The company plans to work with the new shareholders to explore new business opportunities for Amoy in China.

Amoy was founded in Xiamen in 1908 and moved its headquarters to Hong Kong in 1947. The company makes a wide range of sauces and marinades used in Chinese cooking and sells its products in China, Southeast Asia, Japan, Australasia, North America, and Europe.

Ajinomoto acquired Amoy in 2006 from French multinational food group Danone, which had purchased it in 1991. The sale to CITIC Capital is part of the Japanese company's strategy, established last year, to identify partners that can help grow its brands and create new business opportunities in key markets in reaction to lackluster financial performance in recent years.

CITIC Capital currently has about $25 billion in assets under management and is raising its latest fund, which recently reached a first close of $1.3 billion on an overall target of $2 billion. The Amoy investment was made from its third fund, which closed in 2017 at $1.57 billion. The GP targets investments both within China and overseas, pursuing buyout deals for foreign companies with a China expansion angle.

Corporate carve-outs have been a theme of the portfolio, with the Amoy transaction joining purchases such as the sexual health unit of Australia-listed Ansell, a database division of Euromoney Institutional Investor, and Pearson-owned Wall Street English. CITIC Capital sees carve-outs as particularly interesting because they offer opportunities for operational streamlining and localization, at more attractive valuations than would typically be available when buying from another PE investor.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Greater China
• Buyouts
• Consumer
• Japan
• China
• CITIC Capital