US-based Heinz Corporation has purchased three Chinese food-processing companies based in Guangdong Province.
Heinz declined to reveal the costs involved in the transaction.
John Crawshaw, Vice-President of Heinz's Asian District, said that Heinz planned to expand its business to flavourings and sauce products through the purchase. The Meiweiyuan Food Corporation, one of the three Chinese companies, is a well-known flavouring producer in China, with annual sales standing at $20 million (€20.2m).
The other two companies, the Meiweiyuan Food Factory and Fanyu Jinmai Food Factory, are also major food producers in south China' s Guangdong province.
Heinz, with annual sales of $10 billion, started off in China with baby food products such as rice powder nearly twenty years ago. To better manage its Chinese business, it set up China Corporation recently with headquarters in Guangzhou.