Investor-backed Valeo Foods Group has purchased Appalaches Nature, marking the Ireland-based company’s second acquisition in maple syrup.
Appalaches Nature also becomes Valeo Foods second deal struck in North America after buying maple syrup maker Les Industries Bernard & Fils in Canada in 2022.
Valeo Foods, owned by investment group Bain Capital since 2021, owns brands including Rowse honey, Kettle crisps and Jacob’s biscuits, as well as Batchelors peas and beans. It also has a maple syrup brand, Buckwud, in its portfolio.
Located in Thetford Mines, Québec, Appalaches Nature operates out of a 100,000-square-foot factory. Founded in 2018, the company supplies the Canadian and US markets, plus Europe.
Its maple syrup brands include Sunny Via, Maple Joe and Biodelices, under which it also offers maple sugars and maple-syrup based sweets.
Financial terms were not disclosed in a statement from Valeo Foods, which is based in Dublin and generates annual sales of around €1.2bn ($1.3bn).
The management team at Appalaches Nature will remain in place. The company will be integrated with family-run Les Industries Bernard & Fils, “where synergies, including highly complementary manufacturing capabilities, will support the accelerated growth of the combined business”.
Valeo Foods is headed up by Ronald Kers, the former CEO of UK-based chicken giant 2 Sisters Food Group. He joined the business last year.
Another deal was struck in May with the acquisition of Italian cakes and pastries business Dal Colle. That built on previous purchases in Italy such as
baked desserts maker Industria Doliaria Pattini in 2023, sweet tarts producer Val D’Enza in 2017 and the cakes and wafers manufacturer Balconi in 2015.
In 2021, the UK was in focus as Valeo Foods acquired the savoury-snacks supplier Freshers Foods, a branded producer of pork scratchings and also a co-manufacturer.
The same year, the company bought New World Foods Europe, the owner of brands including Wild West beef jerky.
Since its founding in 2010, Valeo Foods has completed 19 acquisitions in Ireland, the UK and Europe, according to its website.
