GHENT, BELGIUM — On Jan. 16, United Petfood announced it had signed a share purchase agreement to acquire Vital Petfood Group (VPG), a Danish pet food manufacturer.

Based in Ølgod, Denmark, VPG has extensive experience in dry and semi-moist pet food production. Nordic Pet Care Group serves as the parent company of VPG, as well as Best Friend Group.

“There has been a lot of consolidation within the pet food production industry during the recent years,” said Mika Holappa, chief executive officer of Nordic Pet Care Group. “We wanted to find a new owner to continue developing our petfood production in the long run. This divestment enables us to focus and further strengthen our branded businesses within Nordic Pet Care Group.

“Being one of the leading European producers of pet food, United Petfood was an obvious choice of partner and new owner of VPG,” Holappa added. “We are confident that VPG will benefit from United Petfood’s European customer footprint as well extensive experience with operating multiple pet food production sites. Furthermore, we expect United Petfood to be able to utilize VPG’s strong position in the Nordics, and the Danish market, in particular.”

The acquisition includes a plant in the Nordics, which is set to support United Petfood’s growth strategy. According to United Petfood, the acquisition will provide its facility network enhanced flexibility, bringing its production even closer to consumers in the Nordics.

“We look forward to continue and expand the collaboration with United Petfood and keep on producing Best Friend products at the Ølgod factory for the years to come,” Holappa said.

The acquisition is waiting for approval from the Danish Competition Authorities. This acquisition builds upon United Petfood’s recent acquisition of De Haan Petfood, expanding its capabilities in wet production.

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