Spindrift Near $650M Sale, Eos Hires Bankers 🧴

Author

CPG WIRE
December 07, 2024

GM and Happy Saturday, folks. Here’s what we’re covering this morning:

  • Conagra looks for Boyardee buyer 🍝

  • Nestlé sells Egmont Honey 🍯

  • LVMH backs luggage brand 🧳

  • SKIMS x North Face coming soon 👀

  • Create bets on stick packs 💪

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

  • Gryphon Investors is reportedly close to acquiring Spindrift for around $650M (roughly 26x EBITDA). Founded in 2010 by Bill Creelman, the sparkling water brand will finish the near with more than $300M in sales and around $25M in EBITDA. Spindrift was backed by KarpReilly, VMG Partners, and others. WSJ

  • Conagra has hired bankers to find a buyer for Chef Boyardee. The brand could fetch as much as $500M. Conagra is divesting the brand in order to focus on its snacks and frozen foods divisions. In August, Conagra expanded its snack portfolio by acquiring FATTY Smoked Meat Sticks for an undisclosed sum. Reuters

  • Nestlé officially divested New Zealand’s Egmont Honey. The buyer is Huatai International, a Beijing-based private equity firm. Nestlé acquired Egmont Honey in 2022 but the business was no longer seen as a strategic fit. The Post 

  • Personal care brand eos has hired bankers to explore a possible sale. The brand, best known for its body lotions and lip balms, is reportedly profitable and generates more than $100M in annual revenue. Axios

Fundraising

  • LVMH Luxury Ventures invested in Db, a Norwegian producer of premium luggage and travel bags. Db was co-founded by Truls Brataas and Jon Olsson in 2012. This is Db’s first major outside investment and will enable the brand to scale globally. Business of Fashion

  • Celleste Bio, a biotech startup and a producer of cell-cultured cocoa products, raised $4.5M in seed funding. The round was led by Supply Change Capital with additional funding from SnackFutures Ventures, Consensus Business Group, The Trendlines Group, Barrel Ventures, and others. Food Engineering

What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

  • Finnish smart ring maker Oura is introducing a feature that’s capable of detecting early signs of illness. Neat. WWD

  • On December 10th, SKIMS will release their limited edition collection with The North Face. The collection features puffer jackets, jumpsuits, layering tops, gloves, etc. For SKIMS, this is their first foray into the winter wear category. Refinery29

  • Swarovski is entering the beauty world again after signing a long-term licensing agreement with Coty. The two companies will develop a new range of fragrances that Coty will produce and distribute. The first product under this licensing agreement is expected to launch in early 2026. Business Wire

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

  • In addition to announcing Unwell Hydration earlier this week, we also learned that Alex Cooper plans on launching Popular Vodka in the near future. Details are scarce but this move makes sense given her target demo. Celebrities have been piling into the vodka category lately. Jason Momoa, Ricky Gervais, and comedians Bert Kreischer & Tom Segura all recently launched or acquired stakes in vodka brands. Twitter

  • Creatine gummies brand Create is launching a range of creatine powder stick packs. The powders are packaged to avoid making messes and formulated for easy mixing. This is smart move: some creatine users simply don’t want to shift away from powders and this product at least solves the messiness problem. Here’s what they look like 👇 Twitter

  • According to Daily Coffee News, cell-cultured coffee (or lab-based coffee) is close to becoming a mainstream reality. Daily Coffee News

  • Hawaii-based Shaka Tea is sadly shutting down two years after it was acquired. BevNET

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Data 🖥️

  • Brown-Forman posted tepid results for the first half of the fiscal year. Net sales dipped 5% to $2B while operating income dropped 7% to $622M. Whiskey sales were largely flat and their tequila portfolio took a beating (sales of El Jimador dropped by 16% while Herradura decreased by 13%). Brown-Forman attributed the 5% net sales drop to selling Finlandia Vodka and Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards. The Spirits Business

  • National Beverage Corp (the owner of LaCroix) reported mixed results in Q2. Net sales dipped to $291M, down from $300M in Q2 of 2023, but gross margin, operating income, and net income all improved. Business Wire

Distribution News 🚚