Houlihan Lokey Advises NPM Capital

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that it has advised NPM Capital on the sale of Neerlands Groente Glorie & Fruit, the parent company of HAK, a leading vegetables and plant-based solutions producer in the Benelux and Germany, to KDV Group, a multinational food group with a broad range of products and production facilities and a well-established distribution network. The acquisition of HAK marks an entry into Western European markets as well as the plant-based nutrition market for KDV. The transaction closed 3 August 2021.

HAK was founded by the HAK family in Giessen, the Netherlands, in 1952 and processes, preserves, and sells high-quality vegetables and legumes-based solutions. HAK believes that the world can be a better place where everyone lives a longer and healthier life by eating more plant-based products. This is reflected in its mission: to help as many people as possible to eat more vegetables and pulses, anyplace, anytime, anywhere. HAK has over 200 employees and operates two production locations in the Netherlands. It serves a blue-chip customer base of retail chains and fast-growing channels such as discounters and e-commerce as well as the food service and food production clients through HAK Fresh, with the Benelux and Germany as its core markets.

NPM Capital was established in 1948 and has been part of SHV since 2000. The participations are characterised by having a strong competitive position and providing growth potential through a scalable business model across sectors or via buy and build. NPM seeks to invest in medium-sized to large companies in the Benelux region, focusing on digital world, sustainable food and energy production, and health and education. They currently have 26 active investments.

KDV Group is a multinational food group, active in all areas of the food value chain, ranging from crop cultivation and raw materials processing to food production, and sells and distributes hundreds of brands in more than 250,000 sales outlets in Eastern Europe, Russia, and China. The group owns its own farms and factories and operates a dense distribution network. During the past 25 years, KDV has established itself as a leading supplier and manufacturer of food products, especially chocolate and biscuits. The group has subsidiaries in 13 countries and sells its products in 47 countries. More than 20,000 people are employed at KDV. For KDV, HAK is the starting point for its plans for internationalisation and diversification towards plant-based nutrition.

UFG Private Equity, as part of UFG Asset Management, has been investing institutional capital in Russia and other CIS countries since 1996. UFG is the first Russia PE signatory to UN Principles for Responsible Investing with an A+ score, with a focus on fast-growing companies in consumer staples and retail, healthcare, telecoms, media, and technology. UFG Private Equity, as a financial investor in KDV, represents the company in its M&A activity.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to the sellers. This transaction highlights Houlihan Lokey's strengths in having strong cross-border sector teams, combined with deeply rooted local presence, and demonstrates the firm’s capabilities in finding suitable buyers globally in support of the best achievable results, highlighting the success and value of our "global network, local presence" approach to doing business.