Barentz International acquires leading distributor Astabumi of Indonesia

Barentz International has announced that, following its recent capital injection to accelerate growth, it has acquired PT Astabumi Ciptadaya, a leading distributor of specialty ingredients for the Food & Nutrition industry in Indonesia.

Barentz, a leading international food ingredients distributor, calls this acquisition in Indonesia a logical step in the strong expansion of Barentz in the Asia Pacific region. Indonesia is what Barentz calls a 'promising market.' With a population of 245 million people, a growing economy and a rapidly expanding middle class, the market for processed foods and more sophisticated food & nutrition products is growing, calling for innovative ingredients following trends in Europe and the USA.

Headquartered in Jakarta, Astabumi services customers in the food, beverage, confectionery, nutrition, health and well-being sectors across Indonesia. For Barentz International, headquartered in the Netherlands and active in close to 50 countries across three continents, the acquisition of Astabumi is strategically important, with Indonesia being the largest economy in South East Asia. Barentz itself has been active under its own brand in Indonesia since 2012.

Hidde van der Wal, CEO of Barentz International, explains: 'This acquisition adds to the reach of Barentz in Indonesia, which will be an advantage for our customers, who can now buy the combined ingredients portfolio from one company instead of from two different distributors. Barentz and Astabumi were delivering ingredients to more or less the same customer base in Indonesia. Now, with our combined expert knowledge and very comprehensive ingredients portfolio, we can serve our customers even better.'

Barentz traditionally has a strong position in specialty ingredients and nutritional and functional blends. In terms of innovations in specialties, Barentz offers specialty fibres, phosphates, novel proteins as well as (natural) sweeteners and salt replacers, just to mention a few.

Hidde van der Wal continues: 'Owing to the increasing demand of more sophisticated food products of the Indonesian consumer, we also see a great potential to grow our stake in infant nutrition, medical nutrition and functional products, with specialty ingredients as well as with our nutritional and functional blends. With this acquisition, Barentz strengthens its market position in South East Asia.'

Adi Arianto, President of Astabumi comments: 'Since we started our company in 1988, we developed a great business with European principals, amongst others with the European starch leader Roquette. The beauty of this deal is that Barentz is a preferred distributor of Roquette in Europe and Astabumi is Roquette’s partner in Indonesia. This creates the best possible synergy for the future growth of Astabumi under Barentz’ management.'

Astabumi and Barentz will integrate their business during the next couple of months and will continue to operate with both trading names, under the legal entity PT Barentz Indonesia. Representing world class suppliers of ingredients, Barentz is active in nine countries in the region, namely in Australia, New Zealand, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand.