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Six yrs ago, as Vita Coco made its push to go public, it conjured concept of serving as platform for better-for-you bevs spanning multiple categories beyond coconut water itself. Tho it was in hunt over the yrs for brands like Spindrift, it was determined not to overpay and no deals ever came to fruition. Until this wk. And wouldn’t you know it, that first one is smack in the coconut water category. NY-based COCO today said it closed yesterday on acquisition of superpremium player Copra for $175 million with potential for additional earnout in 2029 of $45-100 million based on acquired co’s 2028 performance. The initial purchase price is 80% cash, the rest in COCO shares. Vita Coco also will immediately invest $11 mil in Thai plant to up its output. Acquisition will add increment of over $100 mil to Vita Coco’s topline, presaging 2026 sales in revised range of $790-805 mil as core brand continues its rapid growth, too. Cofounders Ben Minges, its CEO, and Chai Phonsuwan will stay on, as will their entire staff, as buyer focuses on exploiting oppty rather than pursuing financial synergies. In refrigerated segment where Harmless Harvest has been able to bat away numerous challengers, Copra has enjoyed compound annual growth rate of 48% over past 3 years, Vita Coco indicated. Copra has operated profitably and will be accretive to Vita Coco’s own operations, its execs assured. Evercore acted as financial advisor to Vita Coco, while Copra was advised by Whipstitch Capital, per announcement.Deal puts COCO firmly in refrigerated segment dominated by Danone-aligned Harmless Harvest, which itself recently made its first foray into shelf-stable side (BBI, Mar 6). It puts under tent a marketer of private-label coconut water made from Thailand’s revered Nam Hom fruit that’s also been building out its own branded biz under Copra and other names. Co also has developed foodservice biz for customers like juice bars. Pickup also puts Vita Coco into production space with plant in Thailand’s Ratchaburi province, by prime growing region, tho COCO brass indicated it won’t be relevant to Vita Coco’s own production needs. As refrigerated brand, Copra gives Vita Coco substantial presence in different part of store, tho as cold-chain brand it won’t be able to ride bottling system of Vita Coco’s strategic ally Keurig Dr Pepper, relying instead mainly on direct-ship and broadliners. And it allows Vita Coco to participate in high end of market that currently comprises 13% of total but where Vita Coco brand itself doesn’t necessarily stretch. We’d first profiled Copra over a decade ago as new player sating consumers’ urge for “100% raw” liquid (BBI, Aug 6 2013). More recently, we tracked its progress 3 yrs ago, when it was building out network of compact local DSD partners like Gold Coast in NY and HiTouch in LA (BBI, Sep 8 2023). Vita Coco execs cited brand’s presence in HEB, Erewhon and other regional chains.Big share of Copra’s biz is private-label and in US that seems to mainly mean Costco on refrigerated side, as CEO Martin Roper pointed out. He noted that for years the club giant only carried Harmless Harvest, until starting to roll out a private-label option 2-3 yrs ago that took a bite out of Harmless’ share there. It would seem a good bet that PL line is coming from Copra, tho COCO c-suiters wouldn’t comment on that.They were less reticent about describing their ambitions for sector. Tho Vita Coco has played to limited extent at high end via organic and other entries, Copra acquisition offers chance to be more meaningful participant, per founder Mike Kirban, who’s clearly aiming to displace Harmless Harvest as segment leader. “It gives us an opportunity to be a real player . . . eventually the largest player,” he said. Harmless Harvest, you’ve been warned.Tho premise of Vita Coco as public co has been to serve as a platform for better-for-you bev brands, that vision had never panned out until now as pre-IPO acquisition of Runa guayusa brand sputtered and internal innovations like PWR Lift protein water struggled to develop momentum. Not that investors have seemed to care: on basis of core brand’s robust growth and profitable operation even in face of headwinds like Trump tariffs and ocean freight spikes, shares have roughly quintupled since IPO, in stark contrast to most other bevcos that took public route and have found shares hammered in recent years as they were unable to deliver on twin demands for brisk growth and profitability. As for Copra deal, “it’s a great first step for us as we build our M&A capabilities,” CEO Roper told investors this morning.

Vita Coco Moves into Superpremium, Refrigerated Space with Pickup of Copra for $175M; Aims to Oust Harmless Harvest as Leader

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