Plant-based spreads producer Upfield Group has entered into an agreement to acquire Arivia, the owner of dairy-free cheese brand Violife.
Upon completion of the deal, Violife will join Flora, Country Crock, Stork and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter within the Upfield brand portfolio. The acquisition is being carried out by Upfield Europe.
Arivia is headquartered in Thessaloniki, Greece, and has a factory located in the north-east of the country.
Upfield is owned by KKR, the private equity firm that bought Unilever’s spreads business in 2017 for €6.83 billion.
“This acquisition is aligned with our growth strategy and mission to be the global authority in plant-based foods,” said David Haines, CEO of Upfield Group.
“Consumers are increasingly demanding quality, natural and tasty alternatives to dairy products, and welcoming Arivia products into the Upfield family will enable us to go further in meeting those demands, whilst growing our plant-based offering.
“The team at Arivia has worked for the past two decades to innovate and create great products that excel in taste, naturalness, and performance. They have done a tremendous job in building their brand in two of the leading markets for plant-based foods and we look forward to working with them to continue those successes around the world.”
Arivia CEO Anthimos Misailidis added: “Our entire team is extremely pleased to become part of the Upfield family and pursue our common goals for more sustainable, higher quality and delicious alternatives to dairy products.
“Being firmly committed to growing consumer satisfaction, we are fully convinced that Upfield’s global footprint, combined with Arivia’s unique product offerings, will act as a catalyst towards increased availability of premium, plant-based products across all retail and foodservice outlets.”
Upfield expects the transaction to close within three months.
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