What we know about Partner in Pet Food’s new majority stakeholder

British private equity (PE) firm Cinven has agreed to sell a majority stake in Partner in Pet Food (PPF) to CVC Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount.

CVC, which will become the largest owner of the Hungary-based pet firm by the end of 2024, wants to accelerate PPF’s European expansion strategy and objective.

“We are delighted that CVC will become our new majority shareholder as we continue our successful premiumization strategy supplemented by an accelerated M&A path, which we started 4 years ago,” says Gerald Kuehr, CEO at PPF.

Jakub Canda, Senior Managing Director at CVC, expressed his confidence in PFF’s “ability to continue generating growth ahead of the market.”

Cinven, which acquired the company in 2018, will retain a minor stake and continue helping the company deliver “ambitious future growth plans.”

The sale of the Hungary-based pet food manufacturer was put on hold last March due to a disagreement in the bidding price. The firm reportedly sought a valuation of €2 billion ($2.14B) for its assets.

Company overview

PPF manufactured approximately 700,000 tons of pet food in 2023, generating approximately €800 million ($857.2M).

It has 12 production facilities across Europe and supplies private-label and branded pet food to a network of over 35 countries.

Since Cinven’s acquisition in 2018, PPF has acquired 5 companies in the pet sector. The PE firm helped the manufacturer enter Western European and Nordic countries and become a “clear leader” in the European pouch segment, too.