Heinz Acquires Chinese Soy Sauce Maker

Heinz has reached an agreement to acquire Chinese soy sauce maker Foodstar from private equity firm Transpac Funds.

Heinz will pay $165m cash when the deal closes, with a performance-based payout in 2014.

The acquisition is expected to increase Heinz’s annual sales in China to about $300m and enable the company to enter China’s $2bn soy sauce market, reports Reuters.

The company expects emerging markets to generate as much as 25% of sales by 2016.

Last month it reported a 9.9% increase in fourth-quarter earnings.