Deal: House Foods has acquired Keystone Natural Holdings, LLC (Keystone).

Value: Undisclosed

Area: Merger and acquisition

Key players: The Baker McKenzie team was led by co-managing partner Akifusa Takada, with the support of counsel Chizu Matsumaru.

Deal significance: The House Foods Group (House Foods) is described as one of Japan’s leading food manufacturers.

It has been operating a tofu business in the United States since 1983.

Keystone is headquartered in Pennsylvania and is a manufacturer and marketer of plant-based products, such as tofu and meat substitutes.

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“House Foods currently operates two plants in the US and plans to build a third in Kentucky, which will be operational by 2025, bringing the total number of production facilities in the US and Canada to eight when Keystone’s five facilities are included,” a statement from Baker McKenzie noted.

Commenting further, co-managing partner Akifusa Takada said: “We are very honoured to have been involved in the acquisition of a US company by House Foods, one of Japan’s leading food manufacturers.

“As sustainable practices become increasingly important at both the individual and corporate levels, we believe that this acquisition is an extremely important step in contributing to a sustainable society by strengthening the plant-based food product business, which is attracting attention due to both health concerns and the need to reduce humanity’s environmental impact.

“We are committed to supporting Japanese companies in their global endeavours by leveraging our firm’s top-class cross-border M&A know-how and experience.”