ARX Equity Partners (“ARX”) together with experienced food industry entrepreneur Keith Dilworth entered into a binding agreement relating to the acquisition of Nutricia Deva a.s. (“Deva”) from Danone Group.

Deva is a Czech Republic based producer of baby fruit desserts and fruit drinks, with total annual capacity of 24,000 tons, and also holds bio and organic certifications.

ARX together with Keith Dilworth committed to acquire Deva with the aim to expand the existing business via further organic growth and to use the company as a platform to acquire complementary add-on acquisitions. As part of the transaction, Deva will enter into a manufacturing contract and will continue to manufacture baby food desserts under the Danone brands.

“I am excited to team up with ARX and acquire such a high-quality company and we look forward to continuing a production partnership with the Danone Group.  We are convinced that Deva is well-positioned to leverage its strong asset base, technical know-how and skilled employees, in order to acquire new customers in the future.” says Keith Dilworth, who has been named CEO of Deva.

The acquisition of Deva will be the first investment made from the fourth ARX Equity Partners managed private equity fund.