Canadian agriculture, ingredients and plant-based consumer product company Above Food confirmed its merger with special purpose acquisitions company, Bite Acquisition Corp., through which it will go public on the New York Stock Exchange. The deal is projected to be finalized by the second half of 2023.
“We believe Above Food will be a first-of-its-kind public company within the food-based specialty ingredients sector – utilizing a vertically integrated business model that leverages its own source of supply and distribution infrastructure to create higher value formulations and products for the benefit of downstream customers in the ingredients and CPG space,” Bite Acquisition CEO Alberto Ardura said in a written statement.
Valued at $319 million, the deal is expected to promote new growth opportunities across three different sectors of food production. During an investors meeting, Ardura and Above Food CEO Lionel Kambeitz revealed the company’s portfolio includes 300,000 acres of farming in the U.S. and Canada, five platforms and nine consumer brands.
With the market currently slowed, few food brands have carried out public market debuts, with the exception of Moolec Science, which made its way to Nasdaq following the approval of an SPAC merger last year.
According to Ardura, the food brand’s current business strategy will result in various competitive advantages and expansion opportunities.
The food brand provides large-scale agriculture producers with proprietary technology and custom-bred crops intended for growth. With three ingredient processing plants in Canada, the company sells commodity ingredients to large-scale suppliers with a wide range of processing and traceability capabilities.
“The company works with farmers to employ regenerative practices, as well as other sustainability measures,” he assures. “These actions give Above Food a vast and unique supply of commodity crops.”
During the investors call, co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer Martin Williams confirmed that more than 260 customers across 29 countries will contribute to this segment, adding onto the company’s catalog, which also includes more than 300 owned and leased rail cars.
Over the last year, the company generated $294 million in revenue, 4% of which are considered gross margins, as well as 1% in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, CFO Jason Zhao revealed during an investor call. According to Kambeitz, the revenues are made up of 61% from agriculture, 37% from ingredients, and 2% from CPG.
For the fiscal year of 2024, Zhao projects Above Food’s specialty ingredients business to see 129% organic growth resulting from an increase in output, as well as oat ingredients and pet food ingredients. These ingredients have already been secured for upcoming seasons.
The transaction is further supported by $9 million of investments provided by Lexington Capital and oat manufacturer Grupo Vida, Bite Acquisitions.
“While revenues and sales in the food business have gone in opposite directions in the last year, and publicly traded plant-based companies have seen sales and share prices fall, Above Food’s combination of business areas may provide both growth opportunity and stability,” a Food Dive report states.