Candy Kittens owner to Graze on Unilever snack brand | Money News

The owner of Candy Kittens, the vegetarian sweet brand, is in talks about a cut-price deal to buy Graze, the snacks range owned by FTSE-100 consumer goods giant Unilever.

Sky News has learnt that Katjes Group, which is headquartered in Germany, is in advanced talks to buy Graze for about £35m.

The price represents a huge discount on the roughly £150m Unilever paid to buy the healthy snacks brand in 2019.

Graze’s products, which are sold in major supermarkets and also through subscriptions directly to consumers, include espresso-flavoured almonds and honeycomb oat bars.

Founded in 2008, Graze was bought by Unilever after it saw off interest from competing bidders including Kellogg and Pepsico, the owner of Walker’s Crisps.

The brand has performed poorly under Unilever’s ownership, however, prompting new chief executive Fernando Fernandez to put it up for sale earlier this year.

Nevertheless, the sale price of about £35m is lower than market estimates suggested earlier this year.

Mr Fernandez has also initiated a sale process for prominent British food brands including Colman’s, Bovril and Marmite, according to reports last week.

The new Unilever boss is prioritising investments in faster-growing areas in consumer healthcare and beauty, snapping up the personal care brand Wild earlier this year.

A Unilever spokesman declined to comment.