London-listed S-Ventures said it has acquired 75.1% of the chocolate maker in exchange for more than 3.2 million shares of the investor company, which is approximately £295,400 (US$416,670) at a price of 9 pence per share. ).
Ohso Chocolate was founded in 2009 in Woking, Surrey, south-east England, and added “premium” bacterial probiotics to its candy, which is available online and at Boots and Holland & Barrett retailers. Its founders Andrew Marten and Liz Hallet were granted the option to sell the remaining 24.9% of the shares to S-Ventures, “subject to future financial performance.”
As of December 31, 2020, Ohso Chocolate had sales of 311,000 pounds and total assets of 342,000 pounds.
Surrey-based S-Ventures said the transaction was a “connected transaction” because its CEO Scott Livingston and CFO Robert Hewitt jointly held 50.6% of the issued share capital of Ohso Chocolate before the transaction was concluded. After this transaction, Livingston’s “beneficial interest” in the business will increase from 56.8% to 57.3%, and Hewitt’s equity will decrease from 2.93% to 2.9%.
Ohso Chocolate uses cocoa from sustainable sources and provides milk and dark chocolate without added sugar. Marten will continue to serve as its managing director, while all employees will be retained.
S-Ventures Chairman David Mitchell said in a statement: “We are very happy to acquire our shares in Ohso Chocolate. We are very much looking forward to working with Andrew and the team. This product has achieved tremendous success. Achievements and progress, but we believe that together we can grow faster in the field of healthy probiotics and use opportunities more effectively.”
With the investment at hand, Ohso Chocolate will seek to expand its product range to new products and “consider opportunities to collaborate with other major brands to leverage its technology.”
S-Ventures product portfolio also includes We Love Purely, a British plantain chip brand, and Coldpress, a juice and smoothie business. S-Ventures acquired a majority stake in We Love Purely last month and made its first investment in Coldpress last fall.
According to its listing documents, the company was established last year as a tool for investment and acquisition of companies in the “health, organic food and health fields”. Trading of S-Ventures shares began in September on the AQSE growth market in the UK. The company raised 650,400 pounds by issuing nearly 24.4 million shares in order to find investment opportunities in Europe.
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Post time: Feb-24-2021
