Daesang Withdraws Bid to Buy China’s Chengfu Food

Daesang Corporation revealed it backed out from its plan to buy the China-based food company, Heilongjiang Chengfu Food Group Co. It aimed to acquire a 51% stake in the company, which has now been withdrawn.

According to The Korea Economic Daily, the original plan was to purchase over half of the company's stake, trimmed to 20%. The South Korean food giant reportedly changed its decision as the amino acid product market slowed.

Purpose of the Initial Bid

Daesang Corp. was trying to acquire a controlling stake in Heilongjiang Chengfu Food to increase its presence in the Chinese market. The latter is a leading food additives manufacturer in China, and its position would also benefit Daesang.

Daesang and Heilongjiang Chengfu Food already agreed to an up to 51% acquisition deal in 2021, worth KRW26.5 billion. However, the former announced on Thursday this week that it will just buy 20% of Chengfu Food for KRW8.84 billion. The company said the acquisition may be completed by Sept. 7

"We had to make changes to our deal given the sluggishness of the lysine business in China. Through our minority stake investment, however, we will continue cooperating with Chengfu Food in functional amino acid products such as L-arginine for feed and L-tryptophan," a Daesang official said.

Sluggish Market Pushed Daesang to Retract Bid

Finally, Daesang Group stressed that the slow market for lysine has prompted it to retract its bid. As per the Financial Supervisory Service's Electronic Disclosure System, the company revised its plan for the deal and has now reduced the stake it would buy. New Daily reported that the expected share will also be reduced from 32.87% to 20%.

Photo by: Daesang Website