Nestlé and Puravida signed an agreement to intensify the companies' activities in the specialized nutrition market in Brazil
On the 23rd, an agreement was signed for the acquisition of the Brazilian company Puravida by Nestlé Health Science, Nestlé's specialized nutrition division.
In an interview with the Broadcast Agro website, the CEO of Nestlé Brazil, Marcelo Melchior, stated that the company is working hard to change its portfolio profile and evolve in the areas of nutrition, health and well-being. In this sense, the executive also pointed out that, when evaluating Puravida, he realized that the company has a purpose and a business model that can be followed in association with the multinational. The value of the transaction, in turn, was not disclosed by the companies.
Puravida's portfolio contains items such as healthy snacks, organic foods, plant-based foods, vitamins and food supplements. The company was previously managed by the private equity fund Aqua Capital. According to the founder of Puravida, Flávio Passos, the annexation to Nestlé will help the company reach a larger scale for its operation. Passos also added that, since its foundation, Puravida had partners that helped in its phases and that, now, Nestlé enough to allow it to stop being a niche company and make healthy products more natural in people's daily lives.
Currently, Puravida's 160 products are distributed throughout Brazil, with 65% of direct sales to consumers and 35% through distributors. According to the company's CEO, Adrian Franciscono, the partnership with Nestlé will enable its ability to reach Brazilian homes and expand its operations to be expanded. He also explained that, today, Puravida products are classified into four fields: vitamins, minerals and dietary supplements; healthy snacks; superfoods and proteins. According to Franciscono, nutrients, vitamins, minerals and food supplements in capsules are the biggest highlight and correspond to 50% of sales, in addition to showing double-digit growth per year.
Puravida's membership of the Nestlé group also makes it possible to think about the possibility of the company's internationalization
With the conclusion of the deal, Puravida will have access to Nestlé's commercial and distribution network in Brazil. However, Nestlé also does not ignore the possibility of internationalizing Puravida through Nestlé Health Science, making use of its capillarity abroad. Under this bias, Marcelo Melchior commented that it is necessary to analyze all the potentials and be cautious. For him, there is a lot of brand expansion capacity in the Brazil, however, as Nestlé is a company with a worldwide presence, it is possible to take it to other countries as well.
The project will be submitted to the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE). Nestlé expects the operation to come into effect in the second half of this year. In addition, the executive responsible for Nestlé Health Science in Latin America, Monica Meale, clarified that the Puravida brand will continue to exist, and the company's administrative body will not be changed. As such, Franciscono will remain CEO of the company and will report directly to Nestlé Health Science.
Puravida's administrative body will be maintained in order to communicate the company's culture and autonomy
In this context, Meale declared that the idea is for Puravida to be maintained as an individual brand, which has autonomy and preserves its own culture. According to the executive, there is no intention of breaking with Puravida's current consumers. Furthermore, Marcelo Melchior added that Nestlé is very proud of the way it behaves in relation to the group's new companies, respecting its culture, adding value and evolving where possible. He concluded, therefore, that there is no rush for integration, so that everything will be carried out with great caution.
In Monica Meale's analysis, the new business will make Nestlé increase its performance and participation in the Brazilian market, mainly in the minerals sector and supplements. For her, Puravida's portfolio is very complementary to Nestlé's current portfolio, with the minerals and food supplements category being the main focus, since this market is, today, quite fragmented and segmented, and Puravida will allow the multinational to participate him more expressively. Currently, Nestlé Health Science already offers oral nutritional supplements, protein powders and ready-to-drink nutritional drinks in Brazil.
