Cinven to partner with Partner in Pet Food

26 Jun 2018

International private equity firm, Cinven, today announces that it has signed an agreement to acquire Partner in Pet Food Group. The transaction is expected to complete within the next two months following regulatory and works council processes.

Cinven's Consumer team identified PPF as an attractive investment opportunity given:

• Pet food represents a large and resilient market, with growth underpinned by long-term trends such as the rise in pet ownership; owners buying specialist pet food; and a shift towards more premium products. The €23 billion European pet food market is forecast to continue growing at a sustained pace over the coming years;
• PPF is a market-leading player with well-invested, pan-European production capabilities and a strong reputation for quality, reliability and innovation;
• Attractive growth opportunities exist for PPF across its core markets throughout Europe, working together with its retail partners to deliver innovative and quality products across offline and online channels;
• PPF has a proven track record of strong financial performance and cash-flow generation through the economic cycle, and dynamic revenue growth over the past five years;
• A fragmented European market for pet food manufacturers represents an opportunity for PPF to participate in consolidation and capitalise on Cinven’s strong buy and build expertise, building on PPF’s existing operations; and
• The business is managed by an exceptional team, led by Chairman and CEO Attila Balogh, together with his team, since 2009.

Our mission at PPF is to provide a full range of high quality pet food products and to be the number one pet food producer in Europe. We have a great business model and are very proud of our customer relationships, the quality of our products, our European production network, the performance of our dedicated staff and innovation track record. We now have an opportunity to grow the business further and are delighted to partner with the team at Cinven to drive further organic growth, as well as focus on buy and build opportunities, in order to offer new products and reach a wider range of customers.

Let’s keep the momentum and working together in building the best Pet Food Company in Europe.

Attila Balogh
Chairman & CEO