Verso Food, the Finnish innovator in plant-based foods, welcomes Kavli as its new owner in order to accelerate its international growth. Kavli Oy, part of the Norwegian Kavli Group is buying the entire share capital of Verso Food Oy. In Finland, Kavli is known for its mayonnaise, processed cheeses and, in recent years, also oat- and soy-based products under the Planti brand. As part of Kavli, Verso Food will be able to speed up its plans to expand to new markets and to new product groups. Verso Food is known in Finland for its Härkis® branded fava bean products, and it uses Finnish fava beans as its main ingredients.
“A growth company needs owners who believe in it and trust in its ability to grow. For this I am grateful to our previous owners and the top professionals working in our company. We are delighted that our new owner is ready to further support our growth and to develop the category in the long term,” says Leena Saarinen, Chair of Verso Food’s Board of Directors.
“We are extremely impressed with Verso Food’s achievements so far. Verso Food has excellent growth opportunities which we are more than excited to seize,” says Gerhard Bley, CEO of Kavli in Sweden and Finland.
“Kavli has a strong growth agenda and a long-term ambition within plant-based food. Our mission is to create value for good causes, and our ownership structure supports that. Verso Food is a perfect fit with our own Planti brand to extend our responsibility within sustainable food”, Bley adds, and continues; “Together with Verso Food, Kavli’s presence in the Finnish market will be strengthened. It shows our commitment to be a long-term supplier within the Finnish food industry.”
Verso Food and Kavli are both value-driven, locally focused, proudly Nordic companies. Both want to offer consumers delicious, sustainable and healthy food.
“Going forward, we will continue to focus on fava bean innovations and strengthen our brand in Finland and abroad. Four in five Finns already recognise Härkis®, which shows that we’ve done a lot of things right – understanding our consumers and customers. With Kavli, we can achieve our international goals much faster: there are strong organisations in place in Sweden, Norway and the UK, and export to more than 20 countries,” explains Verso Food’s CEO Tomi Järvenpää.
“Finland will remain Verso Food’s home. The partnership with Kavli offers us a fantastic opportunity to strengthen our product development with Kavli’s existing expertise. Both companies are focused on creating new eating habits both in Finland and globally. Our fava-bean-based products are produced in Southern Ostrobothnia and Kavli’s oat- and soy-based Planti products in Turku, so production in our home market Finland will remain the foundation for our growth,” Järvenpää adds.
Further information:
Tomi Järvenpää, CEO, Verso Food, tel. +358 40 547 6020, tomi.jarvenpaa@versofood.fi
www.versofood.fi
Gerhard Bley, CEO, O. Kavli AB and Kavli Oy, tel. +46 768 89 59 12, gerhard.bley@kavli.se
Katja Sundell, Sales Director, Kavli Oy, tel. +358 40 416 8304, katja.sundell@kavli.fi
www.kavli.se, www.kavli.fi
Verso Food Oy was founded in 2010 and is based in Vantaa, Finland. The company is on a mission to produce and develop tasty plant-based foods from Finnish fava beans. Verso Food had a turnover of around 6 MEur in 2018 and employs 17 people. Verso is currently investing in its own production facility in Kauhava, Western Finland. In Finland, Verso’s products are sold under the Härkis® and Verso® brands.
O. Kavli AB has a turnover of 900 MSEK with 225 employees and Kavli Oy has a turnover of 12 MEur with 25 employees. Both are part of the Kavli Group with a turnover of 360 MEur and bases in Norway, Finland, Sweden and England. Kavli Group is fully owned by Kavlifondet (the Kavli Trust), who has the sole purpose of distributing all profits to good causes. In 2018, some 14 MEur was donated to projects worldwide.