Kerry Group plc has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Hare Topco, Inc., trading as Niacet, for €853m on a cash-free, debt-free basis.
The firm has revealed details of the deal with an affiliate of funds advised by SK Capital Partners, LP (“SK Capital”) and other shareholders.
The deal is subject to customary closing adjustments.
The news comes just days after Kerry Group announced the sale of its consumer foods’ meats and meals business in the UK and Ireland to Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation for a cash consideration of €819m.
Niacet
Niacet is a global market leader in technologies for preservation.
According to Kerry Group, the firm has “clear leadership positions” in bakery and pharma, and cost-effective low-sodium preservation systems for Meat and plant-based food across both conventional and clean label solutions.
Niacet is differentiated by its proprietary drying and granulation process technologies in its key market categories of Bakery, Meat and Pharma.
The business has customers in over 75 countries and key manufacturing sites in Niagara Falls (USA) and Tiel (The Netherlands).
“Niacet has an attractive financial profile. For the year ended December 31st, 2021 Niacet is expected to have pro forma annualised revenue of c.$220m and EBITDA of c.$66m, representing an EBITDA margin of c.30%.”
“The transaction value of $1,015m represents an implied EV/EBITDA multiple of 15.4x excluding synergies.”
Outperform the market
Following the acquisition, Niacet will be integrated into Kerry’s global food protection and preservation platform.
Kerry Group believes the addition of Niacet’s complementary capabilities will enhance its food protection and preservation strategy to offer new products and technologies in a broader market.
“The resulting revenue synergies are expected to enable the Niacet business to significantly outperform the market and deliver at least mid-to-high single-digit volume growth.”
“The transaction will be growth and margin enhancing to Kerry and is expected to be accretive to adjusted earnings per share in year one.”
Edmond Scanlon, CEO of Kerry, commented, “The acquisition of Niacet’s complementary product portfolio enhances our leadership position in the fast-growing food protection and preservation market and significantly advances our sustainable nutrition ambition.”
“Niacet is a business with market-leading positions, differentiated technologies and a strong and highly experienced management team.”
“We are pleased to welcome the Niacet team to Kerry. We are excited at the potential the combination of our two businesses offers to outperform in this important and attractive market.”
A perfect fit
Kelly Brannen, CEO and significant minority owner of Niacet, commented
“We are proud of the rich heritage we have built-in Niacet, dating back to when my family purchased Niacet in 1978.”
“This transaction affirms the reputation we have developed as a trusted industry leader with a long-dated track record of making the highest quality products in the market.”
“Our constant focus on innovation has been key to the development and success of our new clean label products.”
“I would like to thank our employees for their dedication and commitment and SK Capital for its support throughout its ownership period. In partnership, we have strengthened and grown the company substantially, while establishing the next phase of Niacet’s growth.”
“We view the sale to Kerry as a perfect fit. It will allow Niacet to grow at a much faster rate and sell in new markets around the world. We are very pleased to become part of the Kerry family.”
