Geia Food

Invested: November 2017
Exit: June 2021

From Danish Trader to Scalable Scandinavian Category Partner

Credo invested in Geia in November 2017. The Company had experienced an impressive growth history in the Danish market, and established some presence in Norway and Sweden. The overall investment thesis was to develop Geia from “a Danish company with subsidiaries in Norway and Sweden” to become a truly Scandinavian company, which is value-adding across several dimensions:

• ​Operational: Realize cost synergies and scalable growth

• Strategic: Scandinavian volume benefits enable deeper and more exclusive partnerships with key suppliers

• Valuation: Less dependency on single customers and proven ability to leverage the company’s business model

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Three focus areas have been essential to reach the ownership ambition:

• Strategy: A thorough strategic roadmap, addressing (i) which categories to invest in across markets, (ii) which customer segments to focus on, and (iii) how to optimize the business model to deliver on the strategy

• Organization: Facilitate a Scandinavian top management team, further strengthen the organization with top talents, and build internal capabilities to effectively integrate acquired companies

• M&A: To support rapid growth in select segments

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Leveraging Credo's Core Skills

Geia has since 2017 successfully carried out a Scandinavian growth strategy. A four-pillar organizational structure - sales, purchase, supply chain and quality – has been built in each market, supported by lean and effective Scandinavian support functions.

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Strategic acquisitions of Tilab (Sweden), Danton (Denmark) and BM Food (Norway) have supported the expansion plan in 2018-2020. In addition, the acquisition of Østlandske Formidling AS (“ØFAS”) completed in February 2021 will further improve Geia’s position in Norway.

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Job well done

Together, Geia and Credo have built a highly scalable business, that can leverage Geia's supplier base across the Scandinavian markets and retailers. This makes the company well positioned to continue its impressive growth track record in the years to come. The company was sold to the European private equity firm Triton in April 2021 through a structured sales process, with closing of transaction being completed in June 2021.