Sovos completes Noosa Yoghurt acquisition

BERKELEY, Calif. and BELLVUE — Berkeley, Calif.-based Sovos Brands has completed its acquisition of Bellvue-based Noosa Yoghurt LLC, a fast-growing premium yogurt manufacturer. The acquisition was first announced in October.

“The addition of Noosa allows Sovos to play in three large, on-trend food categories — frozen, sauces and now yogurt,” Todd Lachman, president and CEO of Sovos Brands, said in a written statement. “Over the past four years, Noosa has more than tripled its sales, market share and local production capacity in Colorado. We plan to build on this success and expand Noosa into new markets and geographies and extend it into new categories outside of spoonable yogurt.”   

The Noosa acquisition will almost double Sovos’ sales, diversify its customer base and create a larger infrastructure, the company said. Addition of refrigerated products also will provide Sovos with capabilities that can be leveraged across the company.

Sovos is a food-and-beverage company backed by Advent International. Noosa is the third addition to the Sovos portfolio in less than two years. The company acquired Michael Angelo’s Gourmet Foods, a leading producer of premium, authentic frozen Italian entrees, and Rao’s Specialty Foods, which produces the leading super premium pasta sauce and other Italian specialty foods, in 2017.

Noosa was co-founded in 2009 by Koel Thomae, an Australian expat, and Rob Graves, a Colorado dairy farmer, who set out to bring the Aussie-style yogurt with a creamy texture and sweet-tart flavor profile to the U.S. market.

Noosa Yoghurt is made with whole milk, a touch of wildflower North American honey and real fruit purées on a family farm in Bellvue.

Sovos said it  plans to continue to manufacture products at the Bellvue facility.

Deutsche Bank served as financial adviser to noosa, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP acted as noosa’s legal counsel. McDermott Will and Emery acted as Sovos’ legal counsel.