As part of an aggressive expansion strategy, food and beverage company the Brooklyn Bottling Group (BBG), has signed a definitive agreement with Anglo-Dutch food and consumer products giant Unilever to buy Unilever’s Iberia Foods, a leading distributor of food brands and household products targeting the Hispanic-American market.
The pending acquisition of Iberia Foods, a company with net annual sales of US$43m, from Unilever represents another step in BBG’s expansion plan. Through the BBG World Foods division, which imports and exclusively distributes category leaders from the Caribbean and Latin America, BBG will increase sales to its current customer base by offering a wider range of products from the newly merged Iberia World Foods.
BBG’s historical strength in the northeast will benefit Iberia brands, while Iberia’s anchor in the southeast will help BBG increase its current business there. Iberia World Foods products will also be distributed by BBG’s subsidiary company, North Shore Bottling Corporation, which services 12,000 “mom & pop” and independent retail outlets throughout the northeast.