The move will strengthen its natural dairy portfolio, the company said.
Vika manufactures dairy ingredients for savoury applications such as biscuits, crisps, sauces and pizzas as well as meat-based fonds and stocks and vegetable extracts for soups and ready meals that are free from additives, colours, flavours and preservatives.
Givaudan has set itself the 2020 target to expand its natural flavour range.
President of Givaudan’s flavour division Mauricio Graber said: “Savoury and dairy are two categories where consumers feel all-natural ingredients are important and it is our aim to keep strengthening our offering in these sectors. We look forward to leveraging Vika’s expertise which will complement our own heritage and knowledge in extraction, fermentation and concentration of natural ingredients, opening up new market opportunities for both companies.”
Compared to Givaudan’s 10,000 employees worldwide in almost 100 locations around the globe, privately-held Vika counts just over 200 and has operating facilities in The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium and New Zealand.
Business as usual for Vika factories
"It remains business as usual for Vika’s sites," Graber told us. "No redundancies have been identified. We acquired Vika for the potential to leverage the Givaudan footprint and increase the sales of the acquired business. Our focus is to maximise sales whilst maintaining good cost discipline."
A statement issued by the Swiss-headquartered flavour and fragrance company said it would fund the transaction using existing resources.
Neither party disclosed financial details of the transaction, but based on a pro forma basis of Givaudan’s 2016 results, Vika’s business would represent around €64 million in incremental sales.
Subject to approval from the relevant anti-trust regulators, the deal is expected to go through in the second half of 2017.
Givaudan reported sales of 4.7 billion Swiss Francs (€4.3bn) last year.