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Allen & Overy advises Exponent on its acquisition of IFF’s Flavor Specialty Ingredients division

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5 mins

Published Date

Feb 24 2023

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A&O’s multi-disciplinary teams supported Exponent Private Equity LLP (“Exponent”) in signing a deal to acquire International Flavors & Fragrances Inc.’s Flavor Specialty Ingredients division (“FSI”), a global leader in the base aromas market headquartered in the UK.

As a leading supplier of high-value, specialty base aromas with a broad offering of natural and aroma chemical products, the FSI acquisition includes four dedicated manufacturing and distribution facilities in the UK, US and China, as well as additional distribution centers in Mexico, Brazil and Hong Kong.

The transaction showcases A&O’s fully integrated private equity, leveraged finance and other specialist teams across the UK and US, with the proposed transaction expected to complete before the end of Q3 2023.

The team advising on the transaction was led by London private equity partners Gordon Milne and Monika Przygoda, senior associate James Funder in London and partner Jesse Debban and associate Jort de Groodt in San Francisco, together with London based leveraged finance partner Cathy Bell-Walker and senior associate James Green.

Specialist advice was led by IP / IT partners Jim Ford, Nigel Parker, Keren Livneh and Jill Ge, regulatory partners Matthew Townsend and Jonathan Lopez and registered foreign lawyer Richard Wagner, real estate partners Jean Ye and Adam Sofen, employment and incentives partners Paul McCarthy and Brian Jebb, antitrust partner Thomas Masterman, tax partners Tim Harrop and Dave Lewis, leveraged finance partner Stanimir Kostov and corporate partner Benjamin Crawford.

Other lawyers on this transaction were: special counsel Felise Cooper, senior counsel Caroline Lapidus and John Hibbard, counsel Susana Ng, Paul Jing and David Ye, senior associates Lipei Shi, Alex Shandro, Sam Dent, Ross Townsley and David Weaver, associates Eva Jiang, Angela Chan, Harry Rouse, Petra Dzubáková, Dimitar Grozdanov, Tianyi Xu, Gabrielle Minards, Jasmin Fraser, Brendan Holman, Ben Vallimarescu, Biyu Wang, Alexander Davis-White, Megan McMellon, Chynna Foucek, Kyle Coogan, Koon-Yiu Tse, Tara Smith, Zander Spiller, Hayde Faria, Lauren Diner, Eugean Lo, Jill McLean, Kyle Heagney, Rebecca Xu, Joyce To, Kelly Zhao and Conor Slowey.