Analyst Note
| Seth Goldstein, CFA |On Sept. 30, International Flavors and Fragrances announced that CEO and board chair Andreas Fibig plans to retire. Fibig will remain in his current roles until a successor is named, which is expected in early 2022. Fibig will then stay on for a period of time to support the transition to the new CEO, then he will retire and step down from the board. IFF recently acquired the DuPont nutrition and biosciences business earlier this year. As such, we think the next CEO will continue the company's current strategy to execute on the cost savings synergies from integrating the DuPont business and repay debt to reduce the company's elevated leverage. With no changes to our outlook, we maintain our $140 per share fair value estimate for IFF. Our wide moat rating is also unchanged.