ST. LOUIS – Whitebridge Pet Brands LLC has been acquired by NXMH, a Belgium-based family-owned investment firm. Whitebridge has been a portfolio company of Frontenac since 2014.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Whitebridge, led by CEO Olivier Amice, was founded in January 2015 with the merger of pet treat manufacturer Cloud Star and Petropics, maker of Tiki Cat and Tiki Dog pet foods. In April 2017, Whitebridge acquired Dogswell, a brand of functional jerkies for dogs. In January 2020, the company acquired Cardinal Pet Care, maker of Pet Botanics and Crazy Dog training treats. And in March 2021, Whitebridge completed the acquisition of pet supplement company Grizzly Pet Products.
“At Whitebridge Pet Brands, our team shares a passion for pets and the belief that natural and minimally processed nutrition positively impacts the health and happiness of dogs and cats,” Olivier Amice, CEO of Whitebridge, said in a press release.
“In the spirit of our ‘Better Together’ philosophy, we are now very excited to join forces with NXMH alongside their other international petfood businesses. The new combined scale and footprint will allow us to continue to build our platform and accelerate our development, with more innovation, geographic expansion and new acquisitions.”
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Walter Florence, managing partner of Frontenac, said, “We are proud of our successful partnership with Whitebridge and of its entire management team. We are confident that Whitebridge and its brands will continue their strong growth under NXMH’s ownership.”
Joseph Rondinelli, principal of Frontenac added, “Since our original investment and in partnership with our CEO1st executive, Olivier Amice, we have successfully executed on our strategic vision. During our ownership, Whitebridge completed 5 acquisitions and we invested in scaling the organization which enabled the company to achieve exceptional organic growth through a combination of innovation and expanded points of distribution in North America and globally.”
Amice added, “We thank Frontenac for their unwavering support over the last 7 years which allowed us to build what our company is today and look forward to the next phase of growth in partnership with NXMH.”
Jamie Hong, managing director of NXMH, said, “We have been impressed by the Whitebridge team and what the company has accomplished over the last few years. We share their strong nutritional philosophy of minimally processed, natural petfood, and we are excited to continue the journey with a focus on pet health, innovation and strong partnerships with distributors and retailers around the globe.”
Customers and consumers “can be assured of minimal disruption,” according to the release.
