St. Louis-based pet nutrition company merges with Italian pet food brand

Olivier Amice, CEO of St. Louis-based Whitebridge Pet Brands.

DIANA BARR
St. Louis Business Journal

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Whitebridge Pet Brands, a St. Louis-based manufacturer of pet foods, treats and supplements, has merged with an Italian pet food brand that's a sibling under its new European owner.

Whitebridge, whose products include Tiki Pets brand cat and dog food, has completed a merger with Agras Pet Foods, the Genoa, Italy-based maker of Schesir brand pet food and treats for cats and dogs for the European market. The combined company will do business as Whitebridge Pet Brands, with Olivier Amice, Whitebridge's current CEO, as chief executive.

Whitebridge was acquired in August 2021 by Belgium-based investment firm NXMH, which had bought a 60% stake in Agras in 2017, according to trade journal Petfood Industry News. Both businesses now are fully owned by NXMH, according to a Monday press release.

Whitebridge will continue to operate from both its St. Louis and Genoa offices, according to the release. Whitebridge also has manufacturing operations in Joplin, Missouri; Woodinville, Washington; and Copenhagen, Denmark. Agras has manufacturing operations in Neive, Italy.

“Our goal has always been to build a global natural health nutrition company. Together, Whitebridge and Agras make a major leap toward that goal with sales in more than fifty countries and four plants that service a larger geographic footprint," Amice said in the press release. "More importantly, Agras and Whitebridge are compatible, with talented teams, a shared nutritional belief of natural and minimally processed pet food and a portfolio of strong, purposeful brands delivering on the promise of health and happiness for dogs and cats."

Amice added that the merger will allow the company "to accelerate our development with more innovation made available to more markets."