Savencia Fromage & Dairy, the France-based cheese major, has acquired Hope Foods, a US supplier of plant-based dips and spreads.

Financial terms were not disclosed. Savencia, ranked 14th in Rabobank’s recently-released list of the world’s largest dairy companies, said the addition of Hope Foods would benefit its business.

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“Our core business remains cheese and dairy products but we want to develop new offers in the plant-based category with taste differentiation and premium brands. Hope is a strategic fit for us to drive growth in premium natural food products,” Savencia CEO Jean-Paul Torris said. “Hope enlarges our brands’ portfolio in the USA into fast-growing, better-for-you products and provides an excellent opportunity to expand consumer options for great-tasting, plant-based products.”

Colorado-based Hope Foods markets products such as cashew-and-almond dips and black-garlic houmous.

Robbie Rech, one of Hope Foods’ founders, said the company was “thrilled” to be “partnering this great brand with a company like Savencia”. The French group is, he added, “known throughout the world for some of the best-tasting products on the market. We believe this partnership represents a terrific opportunity to realise Hope’s potential for leadership within the plant-based products space”.

Last month, Savencia filed its financial results for the first half of 2021. The company’s net sales grew 11% to EUR2.67bn (US$3.08bn), or by 9.4% on an organic basis.

Sales of cheese products rose 7.2% organically, as out-of-home volumes recovered and the company saw “strong” retail sales.

Net sales from Savencia’s “other dairy products” division increased by 12.9%, again helped by foodservice and by higher sales for industrial products.

Savencia’s operating profit stood at EUR117m, versus EUR61m a year earlier. Group net income was EUR67m, compared to EUR27m.