KKR invests 12 million in vegetable cheeses of ‘Dramini’ Arivia

By George Lampiris

Arivia, based in Drama, is investing a total of 12 million euros to expand the production of cheeses from plant ingredients. It will be recalled that the company was acquired by the American fund, KKR through the Upfield food group which also owns the fund. With this investment move, Arivia is going to strengthen the production of cheese of vegetable origin in the form of slab, but also the production of spread cheese – cream, with the addition of a new production line. In fact, for this investment, Arivia has joined the provisions of the investment law and in this context is subsidized with 4.2 million euros in the form of tax exemption. The aim of this action is to meet the demand in the European market.

It is characteristic that Arivia products are in increased demand abroad, with the company being a purely export company as most of its quantities are sold outside Greece. Arivia, which operates through the brand, Violife, maintains a purely export presence in more than 60 countries and a significantly smaller presence in the Greek market. Its strong markets are the United Kingdom and the United States, where in order to meet the needs of demand there, the modification of a pre-existing Upfield plant on American soil was implemented. In fact, the Upfield group to which Arivia belongs also proceeded with the construction of a new plant in Canada, in order to meet the growing demand for plant products, which is scheduled to operate in 2022.

America: The prospect of a future $ 22.7 billion market

It is noteworthy, however, that the owner of Upfield and Arivia are implementing synergies both commercially and operationally with the aim of further penetration of the Violife brand in the United States, which has the highest sales and the most significant growth rate of plant sales worldwide. In fact, already between Arivia and Upfield, the operations of the subsidiary, Arivia USA, are handled through Upfield USA, a move that reflects, among other things, this type of synergies. Characteristic of the dynamics of the American market in the field of products made from vegetable proteins, is the fact that its value in 2031 will reach 22.7 billion dollars, according to a recent study by the company, Transparency Market Research.

It should be noted that based on the latest published financial data for 2020, Arivia recorded a turnover of 104.18 million euros, from 70.58 million euros in 2019 (+ 47.59%). EBITDA was in the same year 39.15 million euros, increased by 73.76% from 2019 and profits after taxes reached 28 million euros, increased by 91.78% compared to 2019.