LINCOLN – James Finlay Ltd. has bought, through their wholly owned subsidiary James Finlay International Inc., 100 percent of the share capital of Autocrat LLC for an undisclosed sum.
Autocrat, a Lincoln-based supplier of extracts and natural ingredients to food industry businesses, is a leader in coffee extracts and is used to flavor products for some of the foremost companies in the food, beverage and dairy industries. The company launched a new Food and Beverage Solutions Center in the Greater Boston area last October.
“This acquisition demonstrates our willingness to invest in businesses that can help fuel profitable growth and broaden our existing tea extracts business in North America. Finlays is already a major player in the U.K. roast and ground coffee market, and there are some obvious synergies between tea and coffee extracts around customers and product development,” said Ron Mathison, Finlay’s group managing director.
“The U.S. market is an exciting area for Finlays, and we are looking forward to putting more emphasis on our operations here. The acquisition will double the size of our business in the U.S., giving us greater scale and access to new channels. Entering the coffee extracts market is a natural extension for our own tea extracts business, providing excellent opportunities for growth.”
Finlays operates in all parts of the tea supply chain and brings “bush to cup” tea knowledge in leaf tea procurement and product development. It is also the leading private label packer of roast and ground coffee in the United Kingdom.
Both companies have been operating independently for more than 100 years.
