Universal Foods Acquires British Food Color Company

Universal Foods Corporation (Milwaukee) has acquired Pointing Holdings Ltd., a food colors, flavors and specialty chemicals manufacturer headquartered in the United Kingdom. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Pointing is one of the top five suppliers of food colors worldwide. The company manufactures synthetic and natural food colors as well as flavors and specialty chemicals for cosmetics and household products. About 60% of the company's sales are within Europe and the remaining 40% in North America, South America and Australia.

"Pointing enhances our global presence, complementing our color operations in Europe and North America as well as providing better access to new markets in developing nations," said Universal Foods' chairman, president and CEO Kenneth Manning. "The flavor business strengthens our position in the European market and we gain additional specialty chemical expertise. We will continue to invest in opportunities that broaden our market reach and improve our ability to serve our customers around the world."

Universal Foods is an industrial marketer of high-performance ingredients and ingredient systems that add functionality to foods and other applications, giving distinction to customers' products worldwide. The company's technical expertise includes flavors, flavor enhancers and other bioproducts, colors, yeast and dehydrated vegetables.