Saudi Arabia's Savola to acquire snack maker Bayara for $260m

Savola unit signed a binding agreement to acquire 100% of the company, which processes 23,000 tonnes of goods a year

A supermarket in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia's Savola Group said its subsidiary it has fully acquired snack maker Bayara. Reuters

Saudi Arabia's Savola Group has signed a binding share-purchase agreement through its subsidiary, Savola Foods Company, to acquire nuts company Bayara Holding for $260 million.

The food conglomerate will pay cash for 100 per cent of Bayara's issued share capital, it said in a filing to the kingdom's stock exchange, the Tadawul, on Sunday.

"This acquisition is a continued activation of Savola Foods Company’s announced strategy to enter attractive, value-added categories with increasing appeal within the food sector," Savola said in the filing.

Savola will finance the $260m transaction through a combination of operating cash flows and available bank loans, it said.

The group appointed Ernst & Young as its financial adviser on the deal, it said.

The proposed acquisition is subject to the approval of the General Authority for Competition and other relevant regulatory authorities, the company said.

Snacks maker Bayara specialises in the production of nuts, spices, grains, pulses, dried fruits and dates, processing about 23,000 tonnes of goods a year, according to its website.

The company is based in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, with operations in both Dubai and Riyadh.

Established in 1992 under the brand name Gyma, it rebranded as Bayara in 2013. The privately held business employs more than 900 workers, according to its LinkedIn profile.

Savola, which was established in 1979, focuses on consumer staples such as edible oil, sugar, pasta and ghee. It harbours plans to expand into higher-value product categories.

The food conglomerate holds a 34.52 per cent stake in Saudi Arabia's Almarai, the biggest dairy company in the Middle East, according to its website. It also has a 51 per cent stake in Al Kabeer Group, one of the largest frozen food manufacturers in the region.

Savola Foods owns operations in seven countries, including Egypt and Sudan, and manages a broad portfolio of business-to-consumer food brands, which are on supermarket shelves in 50 countries, according to its website.

The Savola Group's net profit after zakat and tax for the first quarter of 2021 dropped by 11 per cent, compared with the same period in the previous year, to 153.8m Saudi riyals due to lower sales and margins in the retail sector, a lower share of profits from associates, higher operating expenses and higher zakat and income-tax expense.

The group's first-quarter revenue stood at 5.95bn Saudi riyals, up 0.5 per cent from 5.92bn riyals in the same quarter a year ago.

Food and beverage companies in the region are increasingly evaluating acquisitions and product diversification to boost their standing in a market that has previously relied heavily on food imports.

Almarai in May said it plans to invest 6.6 billion Saudi riyals ($1.76bn) over the next five years to expand its poultry business across the kingdom. In May, it also acquired an additional stake in Riyadh-based snack maker Modern Food Industries amid a product diversification push.

Abu Dhabi’s Agthia Group, one of the Mena region’s top food and beverage companies, recently completed its acquisition of Jordan's Nabil Foods, a processed meat business, and also merged with date-processing company Al Foah.

The company has also agreed to buy 75 per cent of Egypt's Ismailia Investments, or Atyab, which makes frozen meat products. The deal is valued at $205 million, Agthia said in a statement in April.