Earth's biggest flavor/scent creator just merged (all because of faux meats)
You taste them daily... but don't know 'em. Back in 1889, a Dutchman with a strong sense of smell founded a flavor company. A century of mergers later, International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) is publicly traded and worth $14B. IFF makes your gum taste like mint and shampoo waft of coconut — now it's merging with a way larger company.
- IFF sells its sensory formulas to the consumer goods companies that make what you eat and smell, with sales split between "Taste" and "Scent."
- Its 5,000-square foot greenhouse in New Jersey boasts 1,300 tropical plants whose enzymes end up in that eau de anything perfume.
- SnackFact: IFF sent a rose into space, where lack-of-gravity transformed its scent — then they brought it back to commercialize the fragrance as "Space Rose."
Scent of a merger... After 123 years, IFF is merging with the nutrition-focused subsidiary of chemical legend DuPont to create a $45B molecular science company. But investors aren't feeling the flavor, dropping IFF shares 9% after the announcement.
This merger isn’t about synergy — it’s a bet on 1 product... Plant-based meat. Turns out IFF creates flavors/colors for plant-based meats and DuPont produces plant-based proteins. Their customers are alt-beef icons Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. Together, IFF/DuPont could leverage its supply chain importance to jack up prices, or develop better im-meat-ations at a molecular level.