Dive Brief:

• Hain Celestial will pay $357 million to acquire Tilda Ltd., a family-run producer of Basmati rice.
• The purchase makes Hain Celestial a major player in a fascinating market. Basmati rice, a long-grain variety that can be grown only in the foothills of the Himalayas, is the base of much of South Asian cuisine.
• Tilda sells 60 Basmati rice products in more than 40 countries.

Dive Insight:

This seems like an especially smart move for Hain Celestial. Few cuisines seem as ripe for a global explosion as the Basmati-laden dishes of India. Anyone who traveled to England prior to 2000 or so knows that country was a veritable wasteland of food until the curry craze hit and educated the British palate. Our sense is that a similar thing could happen in the U.S. and elsewhere.