(PRESS RELEASE) ST. LOUIS, MO – Whitebridge Pet Brands, U.S.-based maker of Tiki Pets brand cat and dog food, complements, toppers and treats, and a leader in natural health nutrition for pets, and Agras Pet Foods, a European-based pet nutrition company and maker of Schesir brand pet food and complements for cats and dogs, announced that they have completed their merger. Both companies are now fully owned by NXMH, a Belgium-based investment firm. The new company will do business as Whitebridge Pet Brands.
Olivier Amice, current CEO of Whitebridge Pet Brands, will become the CEO of the combined business. “Our goal has always been to build a global natural health nutrition company. Together, Whitebridge and Agras make a major leap toward that goal with sales in more than fifty countries and four plants that service a larger geographic footprint. More importantly, Agras and Whitebridge are compatible, with talented teams, a shared nutritional belief of natural and minimally processed pet food and a portfolio of strong, purposeful brands delivering on the promise of health and happiness for dogs and cats,” said Amice.
“This merger is in the spirit of our philosophy of “Better Together.” It allows us to accelerate our development with more innovation made available to more markets. We will continue to bring to our retailers relevant and differentiated solutions to help them maximize the potential of their stores,” Amice added.
Pietro Molteni, former CEO of Agras, is immensely proud of the work done since he acquired and led the company. “I strongly believe that the two teams working together will give the new company the unique opportunity to build a truly global and unique petfood business, and I will provide my full support during the transition,” said Molteni.
In addition to Tiki Pets, Whitebridge Pet Brands manufactures and markets cat and dog food, complements, toppers, treats and health aids under the following brands: Dogswell, Grizzly, Cloud Star, Buddy Biscuits, Pet Botanics, Crazy Dog and Petite Cuisine. Besides Schesir, Agras also manufactures and markets the Stuzzy and ADOC brands of pet food, distributed in Europe.
Whitebridge Pet Brands will continue to operate from both St. Louis, MO, and Genoa, Italy and expects no disruption to customers of either company during the integration.