PepsiCo, the US multinational food and beverage maker, has announced the acquisition of snack brand Be & Cheery from the Chinese company Haoxiangni Health Food for $705 million.
Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Hangzhou, Be & Cheery is one of the largest online snacks companies in China and reported revenues of approximately 5 billion RMB ($710 million) in 2019. It is said to have product offerings across nuts, dried fruits, meat snacks, baked goods and confectionery, and predominantly sells online through the major e-commerce platforms in China.
The deal “marks an important step in the company’s goal to become China’s leading consumer-centric food and beverage company”, PepsiCo added.
Commenting on the investment, PepsiCo Greater China CEO Ram Krishnan said: “Be & Cheery is highly complementary to our existing China business with its broad product portfolio, asset light model, and focus on e-commerce”.
“We also expect to leverage Be & Cheery’s innovation and consumer insights capabilities to drive innovation in other key PepsiCo growth markets”, he said.
In a separate statement, Haoxiangni Health Food said that it had decided to sell its snacks division as it wanted to focus on its jujube (red date) business.
Sources: PepsiCo / Reuters