KKR explores $10bn sale of Flora Food Group as plant-based pivot reverses
Source · Private Equity desk
— Summary
KKR is exploring a sale of Flora Food Group, the spreads business it carved out of Unilever in a €6.8bn deal in 2017, after the resurgence of dairy demand led the business to abandon its plan to make the entire portfolio plant-based by 2025. The US private capital group is working with bankers on a potential sale at a valuation of up to **$10bn**, with rival private equity groups expected to take a look. Flora's brand portfolio includes Bertolli, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, Elmlea and Becel.
The strategic story has flipped. In 2021, under KKR, Flora announced a plan to make its entire portfolio plant-based by 2025, marketing itself as "the world's largest producer of plant-based foods". But growth in dairy alternatives has reversed: consumers now avoid so-called ultra-processed foods and seek higher-protein options. Sales of plant-based butter fell **4%** in 2025 and plant-based spreads **10%**, according to The Good Food Institute. Flora has now added dairy ingredients back into some products. The company generated **€3bn in 2025 net sales** with a **1% CAGR** between 2019 and 2025. It remains highly leveraged: Fitch Ratings flags a **debt-to-EBITDA ratio of about 7.5x**, while expecting annual free cash flow to rise toward **€150mn** from this year through 2028.
Flora's history reaches back to 1871, when Antoon Jurgens bought the patent for margarine. KKR took control in 2017 in a fiercely contested auction, beating Apollo and CVC, after Unilever divested in the wake of Kraft Heinz's failed **$143bn** takeover bid. Since then Unilever has also sold its tea business to CVC and spun off its ice-cream division (Magnum). The FT reported on Wednesday that CVC is now injecting **€210mn** to shore up the tea business as the **€4.5bn** Lipton deal comes off the boil. Source: Financial Times, 30 April 2026, Ivan Levingston and Madeleine Speed.
KKR explores $10bn sale of Flora Food Group
The story in one line: KKR is exploring a sale of Flora — bought from Unilever in 2017 for €6.8bn — at up to $10bn, after the dairy-alternatives boom reversed and forced the business to add dairy ingredients back to some products.
Key numbers
Targeted valuation: up to $10bn
Original 2017 deal: €6.8bn (KKR beat Apollo and CVC)
The Flora sale is a clean window into where private equity is in mid-2026: deals are doable but require operational stories that make sense to a buyer who has lived through the plant-based hype cycle. KKR’s pitch will combine brand-portfolio resilience (Bertolli, Becel, Elmlea), the operational pivot away from a 100% plant-based strategy, and the cash-flow uplift Fitch sees materialising. The 7.5x debt-to-EBITDA is a constraint — any buyer will need to refinance into a higher-rate environment.
The wider Unilever-spin-off ledger — Flora (KKR, 2017), tea (CVC), ice cream (Magnum spin-off) — is now showing mixed results. CVC’s €210mn cash injection into Lipton signals trouble in the tea business. Flora’s planned exit at $10bn would still book a return for KKR, but well below private-equity’s mid-decade ambitions.
Takeaway
A successful $10bn sale would set a price marker for branded-food carve-outs at the moment private markets need exits. A deal at materially below $10bn would confirm the wider PE story — that consumer-staple LBOs from 2017-19 are reaching the end of their hold periods at modest multiples. Watch for who shows up as the buyer: another PE firm, or a strategic.
Source: Financial Times, 30 April 2026, Ivan Levingston and Madeleine Speed.