Gulf Capital, one of the largest private equity firms investing from the GCC to the rest of Asia, has completed the 100 percent sale of AmCan, the exclusive distributor of many of the top global sports nutrition brands across the MENA region, to a leading regional FMCG distributor operating across the Middle East and Africa.
This highly profitable and strategic sale comes on the heel of another successful exit of a food distribution firm, Chef Middle East (Chef ME), the GCC’s premier foodservice distribution business, which was sold to The Chefs’ Warehouse, a Nasdaq-listed specialty food distributor operating across North America.
As a thematic investor, Gulf Capital invested in AmCan in 2016 from its third buyout fund, GC Equity Partners III, to gain exposure to the fast-growing wellness and sports and nutrition supplements market in the GCC.
During Gulf Capital’s ownership, AmCan grew its revenues and gross margin by more than 50 percent. To achieve these strong results, AmCan expanded geographically by leveraging its exclusive regional agencies, deepened its market reach by investing in operating processes and tools and strengthened its distribution model with optimized working capital and enhanced trading terms.
Moreover, AmCan capitalized on its superior knowledge and understanding of its customers’ behaviors to introduce new brands and products that are witnessing exponential sales growth. This remarkable performance is a strong testament to the operational improvement capabilities at Gulf Capital and its deep bench of operating partners and industry advisors.
Dr. Karim El Solh Co-Founder & CEO Gulf Capital
“As a thematic investor, our investment in Amcan was underpinned by the secular trends and shifts in consumer behavior that continue to fuel the growth of the health and wellness sector across the Middle East. The disciplined execution of our value creation plan by AmCan’s management team and Gulf Capital’s operating partners has allowed AmCan to cement and expand its market-leading position in the region with continued improvement of its operating metrics and overall profitability.”
Mr. Karim El Solh added that “We are very proud of the remarkable growth of AmCan during Gulf Capital’s ownership period and of the strong returns we have delivered to our Third Buyout Fund investors. This control growth buyout with a deep focus on operational improvement and earnings’ growth, followed by a highly successful sale to a regional strategic buyer, is a great illustration of Gulf Capital’s unique investment strategy in our high growth region.”
Mr. Mohammad Madani, Managing Director at Gulf Capital, said that “The AmCan investment is another great example of Gulf Capital’s strategy of acquiring controlling stakes in a market leader in a high growth sector, expanding the business into new geographies, enlarging product offering, and growing EBITDA through operational improvements.
“We are thrilled with the successful closing of this sale to a regional strategic buyer, as we believe AmCan will find in its new owner the financial support, operational expertise, and depth of network that will take it to new heights. We would like to thank our esteemed partner over the years, Mr. Firas Odeh, AmCan’s Founder and CEO, AmCan’s management team, and the new owner for their efforts in successfully closing this transaction, and we wish them all the best on their next chapter of growth,” further commented Mr. Madani.
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