Food group behind Horlicks bought back by founding family
Aimia Foods, the food group behind the Horlicks brand and a manufacturer of own-brand products, has been acquired by the Unsworth Family supported with facilities from HSBC and Beechbrook Capital.
The £120m turnover group, based in Haydock, had been owned by Cott Corporation since 2014 who bought it from the Unsworth family who founded, ran and developed the Aimia brand until its sale to Cott.
In the last set of accounts available the business made pre-tax profits of £6.5m on turnover of £95m to the end of 2022.
With a 40+ year heritage in the food and drink manufacturing industry, the Unsworth Family have extensive knowledge, experience and contacts to drive their ambitious plans.
Gary and Ian Unsworth originally founded their business in Burscough in 1981, sold it to Nichols Group – the listed company behind Vimto – before Gary’s son Rob Unsworth ran it, then sold it on in 2014.
“This is a special business we know very well which stands out in many ways from the competition. The business will remain headed by Paul Whitlow as MD and the leadership team will be unchanged. We will also continue to support the strategic direction of the business, which is driving growth through the manufacturing and sale of branded goods within the beverage category both in the UK and overseas,” said Rob Unsworth.
Aimia is a diversified food and drink manufacturing business, selling through a variety of channels such as retail, vending, foodservice, cash & carry and online. It owns and partners an impressive portfolio of brands serving the UK retail channel, including Horlicks, Drink Me Chai, leading confectionary, and bubble tea brands, and serves the broader “out of home” channel with trade brands such as Milfresh, Café Nueva and Shmoo.
The Unsworth family engaged corporate finance advisers Clairfield to explore the potential repurchase of Aimia and they acted as lead financial advisors during the process.
The Unsworth Family were advised by Partner Gary Ecob, Director Toby Arrowsmith and Manager Liam Hadfield at Clairfield. Legal advice was provided to the Unsworth family by Jonathan Brown, Katy Oakes and Joseph Reade of Hill Dickinson with finance arranged with Andy Oates at HSBC and Paul Whitehouse at Beechbrook Capital. Mills and Reeve provided legal advice to HSBC, with Pinsents providing legal advice to Beechbrook Capital.
Andy Oates, Head of Corporate for West Midlands at HSBC said: “We are really excited about the future Aimia has in the market and look forward to partnering with Rob and the management team on that growth journey.”
Paul Whitehouse of Beechbrook Capital said: “From the outset we recognised that Aimia is a high-quality UK manufacturing business and a market leader in its key categories. The family and the management team have an impressive track record in building strong customer relationships and brands, and we look forward to seeing them develop the group further as a result of our investment.”
