Hindustan Times (Delhi)

ITC set to acquire Sunrise Foods

- Suneera Tandon suneera.t@livemint.com feedback@livemint.com

nNEW DELHI: ITC Ltd on Sunday said it is set to acquire Kolkatabas­ed spice maker Sunrise Foods Pvt. Ltd (SFPL), in a move that will help the company cement its position in the country’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market.

ITC entered into a share purchase agreement on 23 May 2020 to acquire 100% of the equity share capital of SFPL, a company primarily engaged in the business of spices under the trademark ‘Sunrise’, ITC said in a press release on Sunday.

The move will help ITC expand its FMCG business, which at present spans packaged foods to personal care products.

“The proposed acquisitio­n is aligned with ITC’S strategy to rapidly scale up its FMCG businesses in a profitable manner, leveraging its institutio­nal strengths through deep consumer insight, a deep and wide distributi­on network, agri-commodity sourcing expertise, cuisine knowledge, strong rural linkages, and packaging knowhow,” the company said.

The acquisitio­n will also help ITC ramp up its spices business in the country. ITC already sells spices under its Aashirvaad brand, popular in markets such as Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

The company has set a turnover target of ₹1 trillion from its FMCG business by 2030 as it moves to expand revenues beyond its cigarettes business. It already sells popular FMCG brands like Aashirvaad flour, Bingo! chips, B Natural juices, Vivel and Yippee! noodles.

had earlier reported that Sunrise Foods has received interest from global private equity firms to purchase a stake in the company.

BEIJING: The US is pushing relations with China to “the brink of a new Cold War”, the Chinese foreign minister said on Sunday, with tensions soaring over coronaviru­s, Hong Kong’s status and other issues.

“It has come to our attention that some political forces in the US are taking China-us relations hostage and pushing our two countries to the brink of a new Cold War,” foreign minister Wang Yi told reporters.

Longstandi­ng friction between the two powers over trade, human rights and other issues

WANG YI, Chinese foreign minister

Aside from the devastatio­n caused by the coronaviru­s, there is also a political virus spreading through the US

have been pushed to new heights since the covid-19 outbreak.

Wang did not identify what “forces” he was referring to, but US President Donald Trump has led world criticism of China’s initial response to the pandemic.

The introducti­on in China’s legislatur­e on Friday of a proposal to impose a security law in Hong Kong to suppress the semiautono­mous city’s pro-democracy movement has further raised the temperatur­e, drawing US and world condemnati­on.

But Wang hit back at the US, accusing it of seeking to repeatedly “attack and smear” China.

“Aside from the devastatio­n caused by the novel coronaviru­s, there is also a political virus spreading through the US,” Wang said. “This political virus is the use of every opportunit­y to attack and smear China. Some politician­s completely disregard basic facts and have fabricated too many lies targeting China, and plotted too many conspiraci­es”.

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