LT Foods, a 70-year-old consumer food company, on Thursday announced the acquisition of 51% stake in Golden Star Trading Inc. along with its brand Golden Star through its subsidiary LT Foods Americas Inc. (LTFA) with a call option to further acquire 49% stake at the end of three years.
LTFA is a material non-listed subsidiary of the company contributing more than 35% to the overall revenue through its flagship brand Royal in North America. The acquisition entails strengthening share of LTFA in the branded jasmine rice market.
US speciality rice market includes jasmine rice and basmati rice, jasmine rice being approximately 3 times bigger than basmati. Golden Star is one of the strongest brands in the jasmine rice market, particularly in the mainstream channel.
Through this acquisition, LTFA will be able to leverage its robust distribution network across channels to further expand its share within the speciality rice market across North America. At the same time, this acquisition will enable LTFA to have a more diverse and sizeable offering, thus strengthening its stronghold in the US speciality rice market.
The acquisition of Golden Star is in line with the company’s long-term growth strategy to expand its product offerings across geographies.
Speaking on the occasion, managing director and CEO LT Foods Limited, Mr. Ashwani Kumar Arora said “The acquisition of Golden Star business is an excellent fit and is consistent with our strategic plan to expand our product offerings across geographies. We all are impressed by Golden Star’s brand growth trajectory and the execution, and operational excellence, to produce Consistent Quality products and expand its reach. We are excited about this expansion and we also look forward to integrating the two businesses by leveraging the brand equity of Royal and Golden Star as well as its well-established and robust distribution network.”
Commenting on this occasion, President LTFA, Mr. Abhinav Arora said “We are excited about this opportunity to work closely with Golden Star to create long term value for both customer and consumer. We are confident we found the right partner in Golden Star Trading, being a family-owned and operated business as well as their “customer first” focus all of which align with our core values. This partnership enables LTFA to strategically grow our market share of speciality grains in North America.”
Commenting on the stake sale, President and Promoter Golden Star Trading Inc. Ms. Christina Wong said “We have nurtured the Golden Star Brand for more than 30 years now and were looking for the right partner to associate with our brand. In LTFA we found the perfect strategic partner that has strong value system in place and has already created a #1 basmati Brand Royal® for the North American market. We are confident that the team will further nurture and enhance the brand value of Golden Star while remaining faithful to our founding principles,
