UK: Healthy snack business acquired by S-Ventures for £7.5m

  • 28 July 2021
Pulsin joins venture capital firm’s portfolio as it expands interest in health and wellness foods market
S-Ventures pays £7.5m to Pulsin in cash, loan notes and ordinary shares

Publicly-listed investment vehicle S-Ventures has acquired healthy snacks business Pulsin for a total of £7.5 million including 15 million shares in the business.

As part of the deal, S-Ventures will pay £2 million in cash and £2 million in the form of loan notes as well as 3 million shares that will be deferred and contingent upon Pulsin’s full-year net sales performance for 2021.

Pulsin recorded £7.05 million in gross sales for the 12-months to 30 April with a net debt of £1.2 million.  

A statement by S-Ventures said the acquisition would add significantly to the VC’s interests in the health and wellness foods marketplace.

The investment vehicle previously acquired probiotic chocolate brand Ohso Chocolate in February and plant-based snacking company We Love Purely in January.

S-Ventures CEO Scott Livingston said of the deal: “We are delighted to welcome the Pulsin team to the S-Ventures family and look forward to accelerating the progress Pulsin has made in establishing itself as a prominent brand in this space. 

“Pulsin is an important acquisition for S-Ventures and reinforces our brand presence, total infrastructure and opportunity for synergy,” Livingston said.

Pulsin MD Simon Ashburner said: “We are delighted in the successful sale and move to S-Ventures and look forward to further developing the brand in the UK and internationally.” 

Ashburner will remain as MD of the snacking brand and will sit on the senior executive team at S-Ventures going forward.

The venture capital company has also reserved £450,000 in cash as a potential consideration to vendors, in respect of certain potential liabilities in Pulsin.

The firm aims to identify ways to cross-fertilise opportunities between target companies to scale the individual entities. S-Ventures also looks for exit opportunities and synergistic collaborations and believes that scaling can create significant value creation for all stakeholders.