Bulgarian PE fund BlackPeak Capital buys minority stake in Romanian plant-based meat producer

Bulgaria-based private equity firm BlackPeak Capital, through its BlackPeak Southeast Europe Growth Equity Fund, has bought a minority stake in Romanian company Verdino Green Foods, a leading plant-based meat alternatives company in Central and Eastern Europe.

The capital provided will enable Verdino to accelerate its growth and support international expansion. The company’s target is to increase its sales to EUR 100 million in the following five years.

“We welcome BlackPeak as our new partner and are glad to join forces to take Verdino to the next level, which is a global presence,” said Raul Ciurtin, Verdino co-founder.

Within two years of operations, Verdino has developed over 60 novel products and successfully listed them in over 2,000 shops across Romania, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, North Macedonia, Serbia and the UK. The company has already entered directly in two of the largest European markets - Germany and the UK - and has signed distribution agreements for another 12 countries.

“PBM products are increasingly becoming a larger niche in the food industry. We strongly believe in the continued growth of this sector, with Verdino having the potential to become a market leader in Europe,” said Niklas Pichler, Managing Partner at BlackPeak.

“We are also happy that our first deal for our new fund is in Romania as it underscores our commitment to support innovative Romanian SMEs in their international expansion,” he added.

(Photo source: the company)