Munich, 18. February 2022 - AlphaPet Ventures, an investment of Mountain Alliance AG (MA, ISIN DE000A12UK08), acquires Arden Grange, one of the leading premium pet food brands in the UK. With this acquisition, which is still subject to regulatory approval, AlphaPet strengthens its market position as one of the leading brand platforms for premium pet food in Europe and positions itself as a dynamic player with strong multi-channel distribution in the European market with a projected turnover of over EUR 150 million in 2022.
Mountain Alliance AG holds a stake of just under 2% in AlphaPet Ventures GmbH. The specialist for premium pet supplies has been part of the Mountain Alliance AG portfolio since 2017 and is one of the pioneers in the digitalisation of the pet market. AlphaPet's brand portfolio includes Wolfsblut, Wildes Land, Müllers Naturhof, PRIMUM and four other premium pet food brands. The British brand Arden Grange now complements AlphaPet's brand portfolio with another strong premium brand, which will be continued independently under the AlphaPet umbrella.
At the same time, the acquisition is an important step in the internationalisation strategy of the AlphaPet platform and offers considerable synergy potential, especially in sales. On the one hand, these include sales synergies for the existing brand portfolio in several countries and, on the other hand, the opportunity to further expand and scale the Arden Grange brand through more than 13,000 points of sale in German-speaking countries. The strong positioning in online sales, thanks to which AlphaPet generates more than 50% of its revenue directly with end customers (D2C), is particularly important here.
In addition to existing equity investors, CVC is providing debt capital to finance this and further acquisitions by AlphaPet Ventures.
Manfred Danner, CEO of Mountain Alliance AG, comments: "The successful buy-and-build approach and the continuous development towards a leading European digital brand platform for pet food confirm us in our strategy to invest early in digital winners of tomorrow like AlphaPet."