CVC Credit is pleased to announce that it has provided unitranche debt facilities to support the growth strategy of AlphaPet, a leading German pet food business. CVC will support the ongoing organic and acquisitive growth of the business, including the recent acquisition of Arden Grange, a UK-based premium pet food brand, through the provision of a term loan as well as a committed acquisition facility.

Headquartered in Germany, AlphaPet is a digital brand platform and an online leader in the premium pet food market. Its portfolio of eight leading brands includes Wolfsblut, Wildes Land and Müller’s Naturhof. Through its ecommerce channels, the company has direct access to over one million direct customers, as well as an offline presence through a network of more than 13,000 points of sale with independent retailers and partners.

Established in 2016, AlphaPet has grown rapidly through both organic growth and scaled via acquisition. The addition of Arden Grange greatly complements the existing brands and expands the business’s footprint into new geographies.

Neale Broadhead, Partner in the Private Credit team at CVC Credit, commented “We are delighted to announce our commitment to AlphaPet and our first investment from CVC European Direct Lending Fund III, which focuses on lending to established medium and large European companies with proven business models. CVC has significant experience in the pet retail sector through our private equity investments in Petco in the US and Medivet in Europe, and this knowledge was essential in accurately evaluating this transaction.”

David Deregowski, Director in the Private Credit team at CVC Credit, added: “AlphaPet is the dominant digital player in Germany with a portfolio of premium brands that command a large and loyal customer base. It is active in a growing and resilient market that benefits from favourable demographic trends and is very well-positioned to continue its strong buy-and-build track record. CVC is delighted to support the business for its next chapter of growth.”

Marco Hierling, Founder and Managing Director of AlphaPet Ventures, said of the acquisition: “Arden Grange is a strong and well-positioned premium brand for which we see great potential not only in the UK but also in DACH. Above all, we can make a good contribution to the further growth of the brand through our digital know-how, direct end-customer access as well as through our sales team in DACH with access to over 13,000 points of sale. With Arden Grange, we are coming a big step closer to our goal of establishing AlphaPet as the leading digital platform for premium pet food in Europe. We are building on the existing and long-standing supplier and customer relationships in the UK and look forward to expanding these further in the coming year.”

Stefan Pfannmöller, Founder of AlphaPet Ventures GmbH and Partner at Venture Stars commented: “Having accompanied AlphaPet with Venture Stars since its foundation, we are initiating the further internationalisation of AlphaPet with already the second acquisition in the last two years. We are pleased to take this step together with our long-term equity partners and the renowned debt fund CVC. We will consistently carry out the further buy-and-build strategy together to establish our leading pan-European position as a digital brand platform.”