Royal Unibrew; MC Energy
The deal would help the company to foray into a new drink’s category. Credit: Krystian Wielgus / Pixabay.

Danish beverage provider Royal Unibrew has reached an agreement to acquire MC Energy, a French energy drinks company and the parent company of the Crazy Tiger brand.

Royal Unibrew will acquire MC Energy from three entrepreneurs for an enterprise value of $96.8m (DKK610m) on a debt-free basis.

The company said that it entered exclusive negotiations to acquire MC Energy on 1 July 2021.

Royal Unibrew CEO Lars Jensen said: “We are very pleased that we have secured the ownership of Crazy Tiger in France as we see significant growth opportunities in the Energy Drink category across geographies.

“The acquisition of an Energy Drink company with a solid market position in France supports our strategy and is the next step in developing our French business into a multi-niche business model. This move is fully in line with our strategy as laid out at our Capital Markets Update on 10 May 2021.”

Royal Unibrew said that MC Energy holds around 10% volume share in the fast-growing energy drinks market, and it can take Crazy Tiger brand to a next level by making additional investments for further innovations, organisation and marketing.

The deal would help the company to foray into a new category and also adds a new category to its French business, which is currently based on its Lorina brand (lemonade).

By acquiring the energy drinks company, Royal Unibrew aims to further diversify its French business towards a multi-niche market.

In July 2018, Royal Unibrew completed the acquisition of French lemonade business Etablissements Geyer Fréres for kr600m ($103m).

Etablissements Geyer Fréres offers organic products through brands LORINA craft lemonade, PureThé and InFreshhh. It exports products to approximately 40 countries worldwide.