Eat Well to Acquire Majority Stake in Amara Organic Foods
Eat Well Investment Group (CSE: EWG) (OTC: EWGFF) (FRA: 6BC0) announced this morning that the company has agreed to terms to acquire a majority 51% stake in PataFoods, dba Amara Organic Foods, a fast-growing North American plant-based baby food brand. The deal terms also include an option that would allow Eat Well Group to increase its equity investment in Amara to 80%.
The acquisition of a majority position in Amara Organic Foods will further reinforce Eat Well Group’s vertical integration strategy. The agreement, signed on October 27, 2021, is subject to customary closing conditions and slated to close on or about November 2, 2021.
Management Commentary
Strategic Rationale for the Acquisition
- Vertical Integration: Completes the initial phase of Eat Well Group’s entire vertical integration investment strategy with a powerful consumer packaged goods (CPG) brand in a category not saturated with other plant-based players.
- Award-Winning CPG: Adds an award-winning and rapidly scaling brand to Eat Well Group’s strategic investment portfolio in leading plant-based CPG companies, complementing the company’s strengths incomplete plant-based foods vertical integration, founded on food-tech and deep nutrition credentials supporting infant microbiome development.
- Distribution: Amara’s current distribution includes some of the largest retailers from around the globe including, Amazon, Costco, Walmart Canada, and more.
- Top Brand: Voted the #1 Baby Best Food by Good House Keeping.
- Strong Differentiation: Amara’s technology allows the brand to bring families the benefits of freshness, with the scale and convenience of shelf-stable, giving the brand a unique foothold in a growing market.
- Baby Food Market TAM: Provides Eat Well Group with entry into the lucrative baby foods CPG category, projected to reach USD $96.3 billion by 2027,1 growing at a CAGR of 6.0% from 2021 to 2027.
- Synergies: Eat Well Group, and Amara will explore supply and ingredient levers to streamline costs and drive margins through Eat Well Group’s existing core investments and ecosystem partners.
- Benefits from Eat Well Group’s Expertise: Amara will benefit from EWG’s expertise as an agri-food focused investment company, including through improved vertical integration to streamline costs and drive margins and through enhanced scalability across eCommerce and brick and mortar distribution channels.
- Further SKU’s: Adds 14 SKUs to Eat Well Groups portfolio.
- Leadership: Amara is led by visionary CEO and founder Jessica Sturzenegger and backed by senior executives that bring proven execution, brand building knowledge, and early investors include the former chairman of The Hershey Company.
ALSO READ: Eat Well Group is a Foundational Piece of the Burgeoning Plant-Based Food Industry
Amara is a food technology company that uses science and proprietary IP that locks in taste and texture to make healthy, organic, non-GMO, plant-based, convenient baby and children’s food possible for modern-day families. From baby food to toddler food and beyond, Amara is driven by the belief that setting kids on the right path from a young age will help them live better, feel better and think better for the rest of their lives.
Amara first disrupted the baby food market in 2017, supporting the demand from parents for fresh, nutrient-rich, low-sugar baby food that was minimally processed and shelf-stable. Amara’s baby food is one of the most unique product lines that can deliver the benefits of fresh, with the convenience and scale of shelf-stable. The baby blend line is designed to mix with breast milk, formula, or water to transition gently to starting solids.
Amara’s new snack line continues to deliver on the promise of fresh tastes and texture with no added sugar or long ingredient lists. Like its primary snack line, the 100% organic whole fruit and vegetable blend baby meals use the natural properties available in the fruits and vegetables, without additives and concentrated sugars.
Amara is sold throughout major North American retailers, including Whole Foods, Costco (NASDAQ: COST), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Walmart (NYSE: WMT).
Eat Well will be issued 2,047,299 Series A preferred shares in the capital of Amara in exchange for a subscription price of USD $11.6 million. The initial investment represents a 51% equity ownership of Amara on a fully-diluted as-converted basis.
The purchase price for the initial investment will be paid as follows:
- USD $1 million in cash on closing of the initial investment.
- The remaining USD $10.6 million on a deferred payment schedule with quarterly installments of approximately USD $1.3 million for 24 months following the closing of the initial investment. The deferred payments are evidenced by a promissory note issued by Eat Well Group in favour of Amara, which is secured by a share pledge in respect of the Series A shares held by Eat Well Group. The deferred payments may be accelerated at any time without penalty at the sole discretion of Eat Well Group.
Upon full payment of the deferred payments, Eat Well Group may exercise an option to acquire an additional 29% of Amara at a USD $100 million valuation for an aggregate cash purchase price of USD $29 million from other shareholders of Amara.
The Series A Shares being acquired by Eat Well include certain rights that rank in preference to the currently outstanding common shares, and series seed preferred shares of Amara, including in respect of dividends (when and if declared), liquidation events, and mergers, and other corporate transactions. The Series A Shares are convertible by the holders thereof at any time into common shares of Amara.
On the seventh anniversary of the closing date of the Initial Investment, Eat Well Group may redeem its Series A Shares in exchange for the original issue price (plus accrued and unpaid dividends) in the event of a liquidity event or qualified initial public offering has not occurred by that time.
In connection with the closing of the Initial Investment, Eat Well Group, Amara, all holders of series seed shares, and certain other holders of common shares of Amara have entered into an investor rights agreement and voting agreement which provide for certain rights to be granted in favour of Eat Well Group, including board appointment rights, drag-along rights (if Eat Well Group fully exercise the Share Purchase Option), information access rights, pre-emptive purchase rights on new equity issuances, rights of first refusal on proposed share sales and registration rights, all in a manner customary for transactions of this nature. Amara’s current management team will continue to lead the operations and day-to-day management of the business.
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