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Freshii (TSX:FRII) to acquire majority control of Natura Market

Consumer
TSX:FRII
14 October 2021 13:15 (EDT)
Freshii - Chairman and CEO, Matthew Corrin

Source: BNN Bloomberg

Freshii Inc. (FRII) has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Natura Market ECommerce Inc.

Upon closing, Freshii will have rights to acquire 100 per cent of the business through Q1 2025.

Natura Market, launched in late 2016 by Shakhzod Khabibov, has enjoyed rapid growth without external investment, gained customer confidence and loyalty and become a market leader in identifying cutting-edge health and wellness products and making them available to Canadian consumers.

While the Freshii and Natura Market businesses will be run separately, each company looks forward to taking advantage of the synergies that exist between them. 

Freshii plans to use the insight that Natura’s sales data will provide to help the company identify early-stage food and beverage trends that can be used to inform Freshii’s restaurant and consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) product innovation. Natura will also benefit from access to Freshii’s shared-service infrastructure.

General oversight of the Natura business will be provided by a board comprised of the senior management of Freshii and Natura. Matthew Corrin will Chair this board.

“We are really pleased with today’s announcement and welcome the entire Natura team to Freshii,” said Daniel Haroun, Chief Financial Officer at Freshii.

“The company’s leadership demonstrates entrepreneurship at its finest. Over a short period of time, Natura has become a true Canadian success story, with revenue doubling in 2020 vs 2019, and continuing to demonstrate strong double-digit growth in 2021,” added Haroun.

“Today’s announcement is a testament to the incredible dedication and the work this group has put in and the strong reputation we have built with Canadian consumers,” said Khabibov.

“This acquisition will allow us to continue to grow rapidly, to benefit from the expertise and brand recognition that Freshii brings to the table and continue to exceed customer expectations in a rapidly evolving retail climate,” concluded Khabibov.

Freshii Inc. (FRII) is up 3.47 per cent, trading at C$2.09 at 12:13 pm ET.

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