AlphaPet Ventures has acquired Leander International Pet Foods Ltd, which trades as Arden Grange.
The acquisition of the UK super-premium dog and cat food firm marks AlphaPet’s entry into the UK market. The company is a distributor of pet food in Europe and also sells direct to over one million shoppers throughout the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) via its web platform.
The AlphaPet Ventures brand portfolio comprises eight premium brands, including Wolfsblut, Wildes Land, Primum and Müller’s Naturhof, sold through in-house multi-brand shops petspremium.de and hundeland.de as well as single brand shops wolfsblut.com and wildes-land.de.
Marco Hierling, founder and managing director of AlphaPet Ventures, said: “Arden Grange is a strong and well-positioned premium brand for which we see great potential not only in the UK but also in DACH.
“Above all, we can make a good contribution to the further growth of the brand. We are building on the existing and long-standing supplier and customer relationships in the UK and look forward to expanding these further in the coming years.”
Wendy Stephens, founder of Arden Grange, said: “Together with my late husband, Graham, we founded the Arden Grange brand 25 years ago to counter the dog food offerings of the big manufacturers with a high-quality nutritional dog food. The claim of Arden Grange shows this clearly, ‘nutrition without compromise’, and we have always remained faithful to this. This has enabled us to build up a large and loyal group of customers in the UK and win them over to our brand.”
Emma Stephens, daughter of Wendy Stephens and director of Arden Grange, added: “The high quality and innovative recipes have enabled us to successfully establish the brand in the premium market and make it one of the most popular dog food brands in the UK.
“Through the team at AlphaPet, I see great potential in further building the brand, not only nationally but also internationally. I am convinced that together we can fully realise the potential of Arden Grange.”