Edrington Divests Two Brands, Mondelez Acquires Chinese Firm 🍰

Welcome back to This Week in CPG, folks. Hope everyone had a relaxing weekend and a productive Monday. We have some juicy stuff to cover so let’s dive right in:

• Grove Collaborative lands $15M 💰

• Beyonce x Levi’s 👖

• Something new from Three Wishes 🥣

• J.M. Smucker sues Chubby Snacks 👀

• RYSE heads to Target 🎯

Edrington Divests Two Brands 🥃

Five words I didn’t expect to utter anytime soon were “another week, another Scotch deal.” Thanks to a few divestments, however, we get Scotch whisky deals in back-to-back weeks. 

Yesterday, Edrington announced its intent to sell two blended Scotch whisky brands — The Famous Grouse and Naked Malt — to William Grant & Sons for an undisclosed sum. Edrington is divesting the blended brands in order to focus on its ultra-premium, single malt offerings, namely The Macallan, The Glenrothes, and Highland Park. Edrington also owns a fast-growing brand in the gin category, No. 3 London Dry Gin, and in the American whiskey category, Wyoming Whiskey. 

Edrington’s transaction comes on the heels of Campari Group shelling out nearly $100M to buy a minority stake in Capevin Holdings, the owner of a number of Scotch whisky brands like Bunnahabhain, Deanston, Tobermory, and Ledaig.

As we mentioned last week, Scotch isn’t the hottest category right now. Scotch exports fell by 18% in the first half of 2024, and the major spirits firms have largely ignored the category in order to focus on gin, rum, agave spirits, and American whiskey. All of these categories are cyclical, though, and I’m certain that Scotch will experience a resurgence. 

More on the transaction here.

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Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

• Mondelez acquired a significant majority stake in Evirth, a fast-growing manufacturer of frozen-to-chilled cakes and pastries in China. Mondelez already owned a minority stake in Evirth and licensed its Oreo and Philadelphia brands to the company. The frozen-to-chilled cakes & pastries category in China is valued at $3B and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15%. Mondelez has acquired a number of other manufacturers recently, including Give & Go and Chipita Global S.A. Food Dive

Fundraising

• Scandinavian Biolabs, a Danish purveyor of plant-powered hair growth products, secured $4.5M in Series A funding. French venture firm Aurea Group led the round and will join the board. Beauty Independent

• Consumer private equity firm Butterfly announced a $300M dividend recap of Milk Specialties Global, a Minnesota-based producer of nutrition ingredients like whey protein. Business Wire

• Kenyan skincare brand Uncover raised $1.4M in its second round of seed funding. EQ2 Ventures and IgniteXL Ventures co-led the round. Additional investors include Chui Ventures, Samata Capital, and Altree Capital. Global Cosmetics News

• Grove Collaborative, a purveyor of sustainable household and personal care products, secured a $15M PIPE investment from Volition Capital. Grove Collaborative, which trades under the ticker GROV on the NYSE, will use the funds to pay down debt. Business Wire

What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

• ÖRLÖ Nutrition, a wellness brand that’s best known for its algae-based omega-3 products, launched a new range of products called the Icelandic Ultra Spirulina line. The line includes focus gummies, immunity boosting oral spray, and two other products. The snack bar packaging is pretty awesome. PR Newswire

• Denise Vasi, a model, actress, and influencer, has launched a new lip care brand called Maed. The 4-product lineup is described as decadent lip care for daily wear. Glossy

• Clean makeup brand Saie is doubling down on sustainability by partnering with RePurpose Global. Over the next three years, both organizations plan on collecting 5 million pounds of plastic. WWD

• Two icons — Beyonce and Levi’s — are collaborating on something new. Details are scarce but this will be an exciting one to watch. Hypebeast

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

• Three Wishes, a purveyor of better-for-you cereal and granola, is launching a grain-free granola bar line later today. The bars are gluten free and contain 6g of protein and only 3g of sugar. Three Wishes has dialed up the innovation this year as they expand beyond cereal. NOSH

• Functional beverage brand BREZ is launching a new product on Wednesday. The product is called Flow and is Lemon Elderflower flavored. Instagram 

• J.M. Smucker, the owner of Uncrustables, is suing Chubby Snacks, a fellow purveyor of frozen PB&J sandwiches. The false advertising lawsuit suggests that many of Chubby’s marketing claims are phony. Rob Freund did a terrific job breaking down the lawsuit at the link. Twitter

• AB InBev is preparing to launch a non-alcoholic version of Michelob next year. Michelob Ultra Zero is expected to hit shelves in January 2025. BevNET

• Peet’s Coffee is celebrating National Coffee Day by launching a concentrated espresso beverage for at-home consumption. This sounds so good. PR Newswire

• Wednesday’s Domaine, a UK-based producer of alcohol free wines, launched their newest red variety — Vignette. Love their labels. Beverage Daily

• Factor, the RTE meal delivery service that HelloFresh acquired in 2020 for over $270M, launched a supplement subscription service called Factor Form. The product lineup includes greens powder, protein powder, and hydration packs. Business Wire

• Drew Lakin designed some stunning packaging for Lucky Sap, a Vermont maple syrup brand. Fantastic work. Instagram

Data 🖥️

• Only 2.5 years after its debut, GOODLES sold a whopping $2M worth of product at retail last week alone. PR Newswire

• The non-alc beer category is expected to double to $2B over the next five year. Beer Insights

Distribution News 🚚

• Sola, a producer of low-carb baked goods, launched nationwide at Whole Foods Market.

• India-inspired skincare brand Prakti Beauty launched at Credo.

• RYSE Supplements is launching a number of its products at Target.

• Skincare brand Dr. Idriss is now available at 500 Sephora stores.