Hain Celestial Acquires Tilda Rice Brand

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y.The Hain Celestial Group, Inc., has acquired Tilda Limited, a leading premium 100% branded Basmati and specialty rice products company. The acquisition expands Hain Celestials branded grocery product offering into the Middle East, North Africa and India and further into specialty ethnic channels.

Founded by the Thakrar family in 1972, Tilda has been credited with being the first company to bring Basmati rice to the Western World. The Tilda brand offers a range of more than 60 dry rice and ready-to-heat branded products under the brand names Tilda®, Akash® Basmati and Abu Shmagh® to consumers in over 40 countries, principally in the United Kingdom, the Middle East and North Africa Continental Europe, North America and India.

In calendar year 2013, Tilda generated approximately $190 million in net sales and is expected to be accretive to Hain Celestial's adjusted earnings in the second half of fiscal year 2014 by $0.06 to $0.10 per diluted share.

"We are very excited by the strategic acquisition of Tilda, which expands our worldwide better-for-you product portfolio into the premium Basmati rice category along with other specialty rice products. We plan to grow the Tilda brand further using our existing solid distribution platform in the United States, Canada and Europe with Basmati and ready-to-heat rice product offerings," said Irwin D. Simon, Founder, President and CEO of Hain Celestial. "Additionally, Tilda's existing, fast-growing markets in MENA and India provide us with new markets for expansion of our global brands including Earth's Best®, Ella's Kitchen®, Celestial Seasonings®,  Terra®, Rice Dream® and Almond Dream®, to name a few."