5 January 2017 Vendis Capital sells organic pet food brand Yarrah to AAC Capital
Harderwijk, Amsterdam, January 5th, 2017 – Vendis Capital (“Vendis”) announced today that they have sold their stake in Yarrah Organic Petfood (“Yarrah”), the European market leader in organic pet food, to AAC Capital (“AAC”), a leading Benelux mid-market buyout firm. The management team of Yarrah, led by CEO Bas van Tongeren, will invest alongside AAC.
Yarrah is the leading organic pet food brand in Europe with a complete range of organic products for cats and dogs. All products are certified organic, which means all animal and plant ingredients need to live up to the highest quality restrictions as required by the organic seal, meaning a.o. no exposure to chemical additives or preservatives, no use of hormones, but also high animal welfare standards for livestock used. The company supplies dry food (in bags) and wet food (both multi serve in cans and single serve in aluminium trays).
There is a trend towards pet owners feeding their cats and dogs organic food, driven by consumers who are becoming increasingly conscious of their own health and nutrition. Yarrah is ideally positioned to leverage on this trend as the European market leader in the organic pet food niche. Since Yarrah was founded in 1992 by Jan-Jaap Roelevink, the company expanded its footprint beyond the Netherlands and currently serves health conscious pet owners in its core markets Germany, France and the Netherlands.
This is the fourth platform acquisition for AAC’s Benelux focussed Fund, and matches perfectly with AAC’s philosophy of supporting local champions in their growth ambitions.
Bas van Tongeren, CEO Yarrah, says: “We are proud of the partnership with Vendis, through which we have successfully grown further in the organic market, and laid the foundation for our ambitions into pet specialty. In AAC we have found the perfect partner to support us in the next leg of our journey. The partnership with AAC will allow us to expand into upcoming organic markets and accelerate our expansion in the pet retail channel.”
Marc Staal, Chairman at AAC, says: “Yarrah is operating in a growing ‘on-trend’ niche market as the European specialist in organic pet food. Bas van Tongeren and his team have a clear vision and philosophy: providing a healthy and sustainable pet food alternative to what is currently on offer in the market. Yarrah takes a leading role in pure organic pet food; food that’s not only better for pets, but for all animals. Yarrah’s view on its future business development, both in terms of geographies, distribution channels and new product development are well defined and being executed with high momentum. AAC is excited to be partnering with Yarrah and keen to facilitate Bas and his team to deliver upon their continuing growth ambitions.”
Michiel Deturck, Partner at Vendis, says: “Yarrah is a leading brand operating in a fast-developing niche. We are very happy that Yarrah found a strong partner with AAC that can support the next growth phase of the company. We want to thank the management team for a very pleasant and successful partnership and wish the team all the best with its new partner.”
Vendis Capital was advised by Stamford Partners.