Food Business News - July 31, 2012 - 26

Ingredion:
More than a catchy name
N New corporate t identity establishes the company as a global source of ingredients and ideas
inging the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange was an act rich in symbolism for Ilene S. Gordon, chairman, president and chief executive ofﬁcer of Ingredion, Inc. Ms. Gordon participated in the daily ceremony at the exchange June 15 to mark the ofﬁcial name change to Ingredion from Corn Products International, Inc. and the ticker symbol to INGR from CPO. The new name was approved 20 months after Westchester, Ill.-based Corn Products acquired National Starch for $1.3 billion. To Ms. Gordon, the new identity is crucial to helping the company’s constituents better understand what Ingredion does and positions the company for greater future success. Ms. Gordon sat down for an interview with Food Business

News June 26 while attending the 2012 Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting and food exposition in Las Vegas. “The previous name just didn’t make sense for who we really were,” Ms. Gordon explained. “There was actually more confusion because we weren’t a commodity company or an ag company. The ag companies have a lot of their assets in origination and transportation, and they make money doing that. And we have never been in that part of the business. We’re an ingredient company. So we used the opportunity of bringing the two companies together to rename the company Ingredion.” The company said it may be the end of 2013 before the new name and brand is fully unfurled globally, and

Ms. Gordon has spent considerable time traveling to the company’s major locations as part of this process. “We’ve been going through North America and making sure that people understand what we are trying to communicate,” she said. While corporate name changes may be spurred by any number of factors, one inﬂuence clearly not in play in the case of Ingredion/Corn Products was weak ﬁnancial performance. To the contrary, the company has enjoyed exceptional growth since Ms. Gordon assumed the reins in May 2009. The company’s net income per share in 2011, before extraordinary items, was $5.45, up 226% from 2006. The company’s share price at the end of June 2012, at $49.52, was up 118% from when

Ms. Gordon joined the company. Over the same period, the S.&P. 500 index was up 65%. In the interview, Ms. Gordon was upbeat about the ﬁt of the two companies that have come together to form Ingredion, citing the broad geographic footprint of Corn Products and an established reputation for innovation of National Starch. Asked about challenges experienced in connection with the National Starch acquisition, Ms. Gordon said the integration “has actually gone very well.” She said the company was on track to achieve the $50 million of cost synergies associated with bringing the two businesses together. “At the same time, we’ve taken the regional strength of Corn Products with the global innovation excellence of National

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July 31, 2012

Food Business News - July 31, 2012

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