BrazilMaven advises Almarai on its acquisition of Bakemart
Food & beverage manufacturing giant Almarai has acquired the UAE and Bahrain operations of Bakemart – a producer of baked and packaged products – for a sum of $25 million. Merger & acquisition (M&A) specialists Maven Investment Partners supported Almarai through the transaction.
Almarai is a Riyadh-headquartered company with a stronghold on the Middle East’s food & beverage, dairy and fast moving consumer goods markets. Now with a 100% stake in Bakemart UAE and Bahrain, the firm adds a host of baking products – bread, pastries, cakes and frozen bakes – to its expansive portfolio.
Advising the transaction on the buy-side was Maven Investment Partners, a Dubai-based firm specialised in corporate finance, mergers & acquisitons, transformation, restructuring and corporate governance advisory services, among others. The firm is run by Umar Saleem and Shivendra Singh – former C-Suite executives with over three decades of global financial experience.
“Maven Investment Partners is proud to be a part of the financial advisory team that helped source and execute this transaction,” said Saleem via LinkedIn, speaking of the Almarai deal. Details of the transaction were presented in a regulatory filing with Tadawul – the Saudi Stock Exchange – where Almarai is listed.
“This transaction is fully financed from Almarai’s operating cash flow, and the financial impact of this acquisition will be reflected in next quarterly results,” said the statement. Regulatory clearance is pending for the deal, “including the approval of the General Authority for Competition in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
Bakemart is headquartered in Dubai, and brands itself as a “total bakery solutions” firm. Founded in 2003 by 30-year plus baking veteran TK Khaleel, the firm has grown into a supplier of versatile baking products across the Middle East. UAE and Bahrain aside, the 800-strong firm also has a production facility in Qatar and a corporate office in London.
Almarai will now control Bakemart’s myriad brands – Bakemart Gourmet, Healthya, Aalishan included – and continue its expansion in the regional food & beverage market. In 2019, the company used its operating cash flow to pick up halal meat producer Premier Foods for just under $30 million – another deal that was advised on by Maven Investment Partners.
For Saleem, the continual collaboration with Almarai is a “testament to our ability of developing long-term strategic relationships with our clients.” The firm has been busy in the post-Covid restructuring wave hitting the Middle East, having already advised some of the region’s largest private sector clients across sectors with $2 billion in debt restructuring since the crisis hit.
2021 will likely see similar momentum, and the firm is well equipped to cope with the demand. Saleem has decades of financial advisory experience, including at big names such as PwC, Alvarez & Marsal and Roland Berger. Singh is a banker by background, with tenures at Jefferies, Rasmala Investment Bank and Wasatah Capital.
