Oghma Partners has acted as the exclusive financial adviser to the shareholders of Direct-to-Consumer, UK-based, SimplyCook Limited (SimplyCook) on the sale of the business to Nestlé.
The deal is the latest in Oghma’s healthy portfolio of successful cross-border, European transactions which have included advising Solina Group on the acquisition of UK-based Bowman Ingredients, and Givaudan SA on the divestment of both its pectin business to Herbstreith & Fox, and its processed and grated cheese business.
The deal demonstrates Oghma Partners’ expertise in working both with smaller founder-owned businesses and large multinationals across Europe.
SimplyCook’s founder Oli Ashness launched the business in 2014 to offer pre-portioned blends of authentic flavours combined with easy-to-follow recipes, designed to help consumers cook delicious dishes from around the world. Since its launch, the business has helped households across the UK to cook more than 20 million recipes. With more than 130 chef designed recipes, carefully crafted flavour blends with up to 18 different ingredients and nationwide reach through a recyclable, letterbox-sized box that is delivered at consumers’ doorstep via the post service, SimplyCook is an accessible proposition with mass market potential and one of the highest rated recipe kits in the UK according to independent review site, Trustpilot.
Mark Lynch, Partner at Oghma Partners, says: “We were thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the dynamic, high growth SimplyCook business and the team. The deal demonstrates our growing reputation for working with a range of owner operated and multinational businesses on cross border transactions.”
Oli Ashness, CEO of SimplyCook, says: “Oghma have been a delight to work with. They really invested the time initially to understand what the management team wanted to do from a strategic perspective and provided balanced advice to the SC board and major shareholders throughout the process. For a business founder going through this for the first time, their guidance has been invaluable.”
