International confectionery group Ferrero has acquired Irish protein bar group Fulfil Nutrition in an all-cash transaction.

The deal will see the Italian chocolate giant take over all Fulfil’s business outside of North America, which Fulfil founder Barry Connolly and Hershey will continue to control. Hershey bought a minority stake in the business back in 2019.

Ferrero issued a brief statement confirming the two sides had reached a “definitive agreement”. No price was confirmed but industry sources suggest the business would be worth north of €150 million.

That will mean a major payday for Mr Connolly , who is the majority owner of the business, as well as for AIB who acquired part of the shareholdings of cofounders Tom Gannon and Niall McGrath who exited the business in 2018 after a dispute over how aggressively to pursue international expansion. The bank holds about 20 per cent of the business.

Hershey which hold a stake of around 5 per cent will also get an early return on its investment.

Market segment

Ferrero said the deal would enable the maker of Kinder Chocolate and Nutella to expand in a new market segment, “meeting the evolving needs and trends of consumers”

“As part of the transaction, the Ferrero Group will take over the brand’s iconic portfolio and plans to retain the management and the employees of the business,” the company said. Fulfil employs around 40 staff in Ireland and Britain.

The deal is subject to completion authority approval and is expected to close in the next few months.

Ferrero already has a presence in Ireland with its TicTac sweets plant in Cork, where it employs around 271 people.

The deal will allow the Irish brand to compete on the global stage with Mondelez, which acquired UK high protein bar Grenade last year, and Mars, which owns the Kind brand.

Sales of Fulfil’s bar are understood to have bounced back from a pandemic slump that saw sales crash from €29.7 million in 2019 to just under €22 million in 2020. Sales in Ireland were understood to have recovered fully last year with British growth bringing group turnover close to €38 million.

It is now understood to be the top selling “impulse confectionery” brand in the Irish market, ahead of Cadbury and Mars, and number five in the UK market . Sales in each markets are understood to be around one million cases .

Fulfil has also breached the Dutch and Belgian markets, with sales in Australia and the Middle East accounting for a more modest share of turnover. It is also expanding in north America with Hershey.

UK market

The group’s success in breaking into a highly competitive UK market is seen as the catalyst for the Ferrero takeover, proving the case for Fulfil being more than simply a local Irish success story.

Following the Mondelez /Grenade deal and the Mars’ full acquisition of Kind a year earlier, Fulfil attracted attention from both private equity and trade buyers. The company was said to prefer the option of privately-owned family group Ferrero over other suitors.

Ferrero is a confectionery giant with sales in the year to August last of €12.7 billion. The group employs close to 39,000 people across 107 companies selling in 170 countries worldwide.

Fulfil is not its first acquisition in what is known as the “better for you” market. it acquired British cereal bars and granola maker Eat Natural in its last financial year.

The Italian firm was ordered to shut a plant in Belgium by local authorities earlier this month, after an investigation into dozens of cases of salmonella linked to the company’s Kinder chocolates. The company recalled several batches of Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs and other products from shelves in Ireland, Britain, Spain and the United States just ahead of the Easter weekend.