Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (KDP) today (Dec. 8) announced a strategic partnership to buy into Nutrabolt, parent of the C4 energy drink, at a price of $863 million.
KDP called Nutrabolt “a rapidly growing, global active health and wellness company with a portfolio of brands, including C4 Energy, one of the fastest-growing performance energy drink brands in the U.S.; C4 Pre-Workout, the leading pre-workout brand globally; and XTEND, the No. 1 post-workout recovery brand in the U.S.”
Under the long-term agreement, KDP will sell and distribute C4 Energy in the vast majority of KDP's company-owned direct store distribution territories, “which is expected to meaningfully increase retail availability and household penetration for the brand.” Nutrabolt will continue to distribute C4 Energy to the specialty, health club and fitness channels and will continue to work with some of its existing beverage distributors in certain markets.
The $863 million buy-in gets “preferred equity with a 5% annual coupon paid in cash or in-kind. The investment provides KDP with an ownership stake of approximately 30%, making KDP the largest investor in Nutrabolt behind its Founder, Chairman and CEO Doss Cunningham.” KDP also gets rights to increase its ownership stake under various capital raising scenarios.
