McCormick (NYSE: MKC) is a publicly listed company headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, United States that owns 8 consumer brands, and has 2 recorded transactions.[1]
McCormick was founded in a Baltimore cellar in 1889 by an 25-year-old selling flavouring extracts door to door, and is now the largest spice and seasoning company in the world. About half its revenue comes from supplying flavour to food manufacturers and restaurants rather than from its consumer brands.
Unilever agreed to combine its Foods business, home of Knorr and Hellmann's, with McCormick in a Reverse Morris Trust: Unilever would receive $15.7 billion in cash, and Unilever and its shareholders would own 65 per cent of the combined company with McCormick's existing holders owning 35 per cent. McCormick valued Unilever Foods at an enterprise value of about $44.8 billion. It would be the largest reshaping of Unilever since the ice cream demerger, leaving it a beauty, personal care and home care company.
McCormick bought French's mustard and Frank's RedHot from Reckitt Benckiser, which had inherited the food business through Reckitt & Colman and was selling it to fund its purchase of Mead Johnson. It was McCormick's largest acquisition.