The Bel Group to acquire French Start-up All In Food
The multinational cheese conglomerate Bell Group heads into plant-based with acquiring startup
Paris-based Bel Group, a subsidiary of Unibell and owner of household cheese brands such as, Laughing Cow, Babybel, and Boursin, Paris, is to acquire All in Foods, a French startup that manufactures the brand Nature & Moi. Bel will be holding the majority of shareholder with an 80% stake, whereas the All in Foods' founding family will hold the remaining 20% stake. Cheese heavyweight bel group has continued its strategy to diversify into healthier and on-trending categories.
Following the acquisition of Safilait, a dairy producer based in Morocco, and MOM, the manufacturer of the brands Materne ®, GoGo squeeZ ®, and Montblanc ®, Bel confirms its strategy of diversifying its product portfolio on 16th March 2020, through the growth of three complementary food segments in dairy, fruit and vegetable products.
All in Foods was created in 2013 by the Jouault family, and is a French startup based in Saint-Nazaire, in the Loire Atlantique region of France. The company has applied its recognized know-how in plant-based foods to create a broad range of plant-based alternatives to cheese, available under Nature & Moi brand in slices, blocks, bloomy rind, grated, and spreads, as well as plant-based sauces. All in Foods has been a significant player in the plant-based food field in just a few years, with its products distributed mainly in France in supermarkets, and hypermarkets, foodservice, and B2B in France and internationally.
The fast-growing All in Foods early anticipated customer preferences and stood out for its products ' organoleptic profile in its marketplace. The acquisition represents a particularly important driver of innovation in the push to meet sustainable food challenges.
Bel has thus gained recognized know-how and a wide variety of 100% plant-based products to boost its current product portfolio. The newly acquired knowledge will also help speed up plant-based product growth across Bel's entire brand portfolio, which includes brands such as The Laughing Cow ®, Kiri ®, Mini Babybel ®, Boursin ®, and others, by providing entirely plant-based alternatives as well as products that incorporate both dairy and plant-based raw materials.
The Bel Group itself will fund the purchase. It does not reveal the financial details of the deal. A liquidity contract will allow Bel to acquire 100% of the share capital of All in Foods by 2024. The deal is planned to be closed by the end of May 2020 at the latest.
Antoine Fievet, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Bel Group, said that the Bel Group has stepped up its entry into the plant-based age and verified its high ambitions. The company continues to diversify the product portfolio to meet new customer demands, and are guided by the commitment to promote safer and more responsible food for everyone. The company believes in the quality and ability to be provided by All In Foods, to meet the goal of more sustainable food.
Bertrand Jouault, founder of All in Foods, said that the Story of All In Foods is one of family and passion. The company share common values with the Bel Group, and the conviction that plant-based food provides enormous opportunities for food of tomorrow.
