Houlihan Lokey Advises General Atlantic

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that General Atlantic has led a £280 million investment in Butternut Box, alongside existing investor L Catterton. The transaction was completed on 5 October 2023.

Butternut Box, the UK-based fresh dog food company known for its innovative approach to pet food, has raised £280m in its latest fundraising round from new investor General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm. Existing investor L Catterton, the largest global consumer-focused private equity firm, also participated in the round, helping to further the brand’s presence in Europe and continue its mission to deliver fresh, tasty, healthy meals to dogs around the world.

Butternut Box is Europe’s largest fresh dog food brand, feeding dogs in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and most recently Poland. The latter follows its April 2023 acquisition of PsiBufet, one of the leading fresh dog food companies in Central and Eastern Europe. Since its inception in 2016, Butternut Box has grown rapidly, raising over £100 million to date with investments from L Catterton, White Star Capital, Five Seasons Ventures, Passion Capital, Literacy Capital, Claret Capital, and HSBC.

This latest investment will be used to build on this momentum, underscoring Butternut Box’s mission to deliver health and happiness to dogs and their humans. Butternut Box plans to use this funding to accelerate the Company’s leadership across the Fresh category in the pet food space through further European expansion, including the development of a new European manufacturing facility. The planned facility will be the second of its kind for Butternut Box after Rudie’s Kitchen, a fully integrated manufacturing and fulfilment facility that opened in March 2021. This gives Butternut Box full visibility and control over emissions production, helping the Company earn B Corp status in September 2022.

General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm with more than four decades of experience providing capital and strategic support for over 500 growth companies throughout its history. Established in 1980 to partner with visionary entrepreneurs and deliver lasting impact, the firm combines a collaborative global approach, sector specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great entrepreneurs and management teams to scale innovative businesses around the world. General Atlantic has more than $77 billion in assets under management inclusive of all products as of June 30, 2023, and more than 220 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Miami, Mumbai, Munich, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, Stamford and Tel Aviv.

Houlihan Lokey served as the financial advisor to General Atlantic and previously served as lead financial advisor in the Butternut Box Series C fundraising round.

The transaction underscores Houlihan Lokey’s deep expertise in the pet sector. Other transactions include the merger between Natural Balance Pet Foods and Canidae LLC and the sales of Pet Food UK to Inspired Pet Nutrition, Zesty Paws to H&H Group, Whitebridge Pet Brands to NXMH, Forthglade to IK Partners, and Lily’s Kitchen and Tails.com to Nestlé Purina.