Investor Apheon sells stake in Beltaste

Investor Apheon announced that it has sold all its shares in Beltaste to cousins Paul-Emmanuel and Roel Vanreusel. It is Apheon’s second deal in several weeks. The Belgian fund sold the fleet software developer Sofico to the French investment fund Astorg in November.

Beltaste, that started as Vanreusel Snacks in 1953, is a prominent producer of frozen snacks in Belgium and the Netherlands. Headquartered in Hamont-Achel, Belgium, Beltaste has, over the decades, built a leading position in the Belgian and Dutch markets through its operations in Belgium, Hungary and the Netherlands. Beltaste had a consolidated turnover of 74 million euros last year.

Since Beltaste’s partnership with Apheon in 2018, the Company’s growth has accelerated, with turnover doubling as a result of the significant investments made in people, product innovation, commercial initiatives and expansion of production capacity in both Belgium and Hungary.

In 2020, the strong organic growth was further complemented with the acquisition of Oma Bobs, the Dutch manufacturer of croquettes, that allowed Beltaste to broaden its product portfolio and further internationalize its business. Apheon has also supported Beltaste in its transformation process by further professionalizing the company, including the onboarding of Davy De Vlieger as CEO in 2022.

After more than five years of very strong growth in partnership with Apheon, Paul-Emmanuel and Roel Vanreusel are ready to take the helm from Apheon and continue driving Beltaste’s growth over the long- term. Despite having received strong interest from other potential buyers, Apheon believes that the next stage of the Company’s journey lies best with the Vanreusel family. To help the Vanreusels realize their ambitions with Beltaste, Apheon supported them in preparing the buy-back of all the shares of the business. Management of Beltaste remains fully committed to this new stage of the company’s journey and will remain onboard.

The M&A advisor Kumulus Partner assisted Paul-Emmanuel and Roel Vanreusel for the transaction, De Tijd reports.