USA: Nestle to sell Nutrament brand to Harvest Hill

Harvest Hill , a majority-owned portfolio company of Brynwood Partners, has agreed to acquire the Nutrament brand from Nestle, according to a report in Food Business News.

Through the acquisition, the Harvest Hill portfolio is set to expand into the functional drinks space.  The firm's line up already includes fruit drinks under the brands Little Hug, Big Hug, Guzzler and Big Burst, as well as the cocktail and mixer brand Dailys, and the Juicy Juice brand acquired from Nestle in 2014.

Nutrament is described as a dairy-based energy drink containing 16g of protein per 12oz can. It is available in the flavours banana, chocolate, coconut, mango, eggnog, strawberry and vanilla.

Commenting on the deal, Brynwood Partners chairman and CEO Hendrik J Hartong III said: "The Nutrament acquisition strengthens Harvest Hill’s position in several strategically important areas. Nutrament has a strong position in certain critical urban markets that will benefit Harvest Hill’s entire brand portfolio. Harvest Hill will increase its scale with the brand’s loyal customer base and will also acquire access to a broad export distributor network in the Caribbean".

The acquisition is set to close by the end of the year. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Source: Food Business News / Harvest Hill