The firm said the new sites would better serve the national markets and better meet local needs.
“Asia-Pacific is a significant market to be located in, especially as many Asian countries’ middle class keeps increasing, and more consumer products have been launched in correlation,” Kelli Heinz, vice-president of Marketing, Bell Flavors, told FoodNavigator-Asia.
“Bell is extremely excited to invest in the Thailand and Indonesia markets. We feel these investments will benefit our Thailand and Indonesian customers and appreciate their continued business,” said Bell’s president and CEO James Heinz.
“With the establishment of Bell Indonesia and Bell Thailand, we now have a direct presence in countries that represent a significant combined population of 330 million,” added Khoe Hong Oan, managing director of Bell Singapore.
“Our teams look forward to providing prompt and quality support and services to all our clients and potential customers (in the region).”
Acquisition and expansion
The new Thai office is located in Bangkok, while the Indonesian office is located in Banten, near Jakarta. For Indonesia, there is also a satellite office to serve customers in the Surabaya region.
According to the firm, the two newly-launched facilities will primarily be sales offices, with some application function, together with warehousing and local delivery capabilities.
These sites will be supported by Bell’s Singapore operation, Bell Flavors & Fragrances Singapore Pte Ltd.
Less than a year ago, Bell announced it would open a Malaysia office to support its presence in Asia-Pacific.
Located in the capital of Kuala Lumpur, it is, likewise, primarily a sales office with warehousing and local delivery capabilities. There is also a satellite sales office further north in Penang.
The firm said it would also leverage the sales and warehousing network of its subsidiary Sillage Aromatique, which it had purchased from Nardev Chemie in October 2016. Sillage Aromatique services customers in Asia-Pacific, including in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Australia.
As with the Singapore operation, the premises in Indonesia and Thailand were part of the acquisition, though they had to be closed under government regulations then transferred over from Sillage and repurposed as part of Bell’s regional operations.
While the Singapore acquisition was predominantly a fragrance once, Bell said it would incorporate flavour creation, applications and manufacturing into the Singapore operation over the next few years in order to better serve Asia-Pacific markets and customers there.