Haudecoeur (“the Company”), a company specialised in the import and distribution of world food in France, backed by Apheon, LFPI and the founding Haudecoeur family, is pleased to announce that it has closed the acquisitions of two family-owned businesses – Natur Food GmbH in Germany, a wholesaler specialising in Turkish products, and Heliadis in Belgium, the business behind the sauce brand Nawhal’s.
These two complementary acquisitions mark a significant step in Haudecoeur's development, expanding the Company internationally for the first time, opening new geographies and a new addressable market, further establishing Haudecoeur as a leading European platform in world food.
Natur Food is a family-owned wholesaler of Turkish food products, which was founded in 2006 and headquartered in Giessen, Germany. The Company distributes a broad range of products under its own brands, such as Ahinur, alongside leading third-party brands including Egetürk and Gazi, to a diversified base of traditional retailers across Germany. Natur Food marks Haudecoeur's entry into the strategically important and still highly fragmented world food market in Germany, where the Company previously had no presence. This acquisition gives Haudecoeur first-time access to Germany's Turkish community and a foothold to serve the sizeable and growing Turkish population in France.
Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Vilvoorde, Belgium, Heliadis is a family-owned business that offers a broad range of products for the ethnic fast-food market, with a strong focus on sauces. The Company distributes its sauces under its own Nawhal's brand, primarily reaching foodservice operators across France through a network of wholesalers. The Nawhal’s brand is widely regarded as one of the leading names in the French ethnic food market, benefiting from strong customer loyalty and a strong reputation among consumers. Heliadis strengthens the Group's presence in the fast-growing foodservice channel, a new key growth area, and enriches its product mix with a value-added sauces category.
Together, the acquisitions mark a meaningful step-up in the Group’s international footprint across France, Belgium and Germany, generating a combined turnover of more than €350 million and establishing Haudecoeur's position as a leading European platform in the world food space.
Miloud Benaouda, CEO of Haudecoeur, commented: "We are delighted to welcome Natur Food and Heliadis into the Haudecoeur Group. These two acquisitions mark a milestone in our internationalisation journey by giving us an immediate footprint in the strategic German market and first-time access to the Turkish community, while strengthening our position in the foodservice channel and enriching our product range with the fast-growing sauces category. We have identified significant synergies and strategic advantages in both transactions and look forward to working with the Natur Food and Heliadis teams."
Wolfgang de Limburg, Managing Partner of Apheon, commented: "These two complementary acquisitions perfectly illustrate the buy-and-build strategy we are pursuing with Haudecoeur and the founding family. The continued involvement of the experienced leaders and founders across both businesses also reflects the long-term partnership approach that is central to how we invest at Apheon. In the Haudecoeur management team, we have leaders who bring both the commercial ambition and the cultural understanding to take this platform to the next level."
About Natur Food
Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Giessen, Germany, Natur Food is a family-owned wholesaler of Turkish food products. The Company distributes a broad range of products under its own brands, such as Ahinur, alongside leading third-party brands including Egetürk and Gazi, to a diversified base of traditional retailers across Germany. For more information, please visit www.ahinur.com.
About Heliadis
Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Vilvoorde, Belgium, Heliadis is a family-owned business that offers a broad range of products for the ethnic fast-food market, with a strong focus on sauces, under its leading brand Nawhal's. The Company distributes its sauces under its own Nawhal's brand, primarily reaching foodservice operators across France through a network of wholesalers. For more information, please visit www.nawhals.com.
About Haudecoeur
Founded in 1932, Haudecoeur is the indisputable French leader in the procurement, production and distribution of world food, dedicated to customers of Maghrebi, Asian, African, Antillean origins. Haudecoeur offers a wide range of products such as specialised rice, starches, spices, dry fruits, pulses, etc. (>1,500 SKUs), sold under strong and well-known brands (e.g., Riz du Monde, Samia, Légumor, Profruit, La Pastilla, Tantie, etc.). The Group benefits from an excellent positioning vis-à-vis specialised groceries/shops, hyper and supermarkets as well as with end customers. The Group also leverages a solid industrial base in La Courneuve and several warehousing sites present in the Paris area and the South of France. For more information, please visit www.haudecoeur.fr.
About Apheon
Apheon is a pan-European mid-market private equity investment company managing ~€4.5 billion of assets from select global institutional investors and families. Apheon is characterized by its partnership approach, providing “patient and friendly capital” and industrial know-how to entrepreneurs and management teams, preparing their companies for the future. Through its pan-European footprint, the firm acts as a gateway into Europe for companies in the mid-market. Since its founding in 2005, Apheon has raised more than €5 billion in capital, invested in ~50 companies across Europe and completed ~250 add-on acquisitions for a total aggregate transaction value in excess of €8 billion. Apheon’s current portfolio consists of ~25 companies across its target sectors, representing ~€3.5 billion sales and more than 20,000 employees. Apheon is advised by Apheon Advisors, which has offices in Brussels, Milan, Madrid, Paris, Munich and Amsterdam. For more information, please visit www.apheon.com.
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For more information, please contact:
John Mansvelt, COO, Apheon
jm@apheon.com
T: +32 2 213 60 90
Natalia Yek, Head of Investor Relations, Apheon
ny@apheon.com
T: +32 2 213 60 90
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