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Bardelia eyes M&A for retail expansion

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Retail therapy

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Catch up quick

Retail transactions

It's Personnel

Bardelia, a New York purveyor of nonalcoholic beverages, plans to acquire four brick-and-mortar locations by 1Q25, founder Barrie Arnold tells Axios exclusively.

Why it matters: To fuel its retail expansion, Bardelia aims to raise $1 million from high-net-worth individuals, angel investors and beverage strategics in January, Arnold says.

Zoom in: The DTC player aims to open its first location in Manhattan next month, with eyes on locations in Chicago, Denver and San Diego.

It is targeting retailers that already have an established presence in their neighborhoods, Arnold says.

"We want to get our unique model right in the brick-and-mortar space, and then give people the opportunity to buy into that through a franchise model," Arnold says.

Catch up quick: The company raised $130,000 from crowdfunding via startup investor platform Republic this fall.

Zoom out: Millennials are the biggest consumers of nonalcoholic beverages, followed closely by Gen Z because of "greater product availability, especially in retail," according to the International Wine and Spirits Record.

"They're starting to really ask for drinks that make them feel a certain way or do something better for them," Arnold adds.

How it works: Launched in January 2024, Bardelia sells nonalcoholic whiskeys, tequilas, wine and spirits, as well as functional beverages replete with adaptogens, nootropics or cannabis.

Context: Arnold also cofounded nonalcoholic beverage retailer Boisson but left in February 2023 because of strategic differences. Boisson filed for bankruptcy  this year.

What's next: Bardelia wants to build a social club–like environment around its retail locations where people with a shared lifestyle can participate in activities like wine and cheese tastings or fitness classes.

1 big thing: Bardelia eyes M&A for retail expansion

💰 Nordstrom may be nearing a take-private transaction with its founding family and El Puerto de Liverpool, WWD reports.

The family and its Mexican retail partners previously made an offer of about $3.8 billion to buy the department store chain and would roll their collective equity (about a 40% stake) into a transaction.

Nordstrom and El Puerto de Liverpool did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company's shares were up about 1.8% in early-morning trading.

🪧 Strikes are roiling Amazon and Starbucks in the final stretch before Christmas.

"The union that represents more than 11,000 Starbucks workers said it plans on launching a five-day strike beginning Friday morning," per Axios' Emily Peck.

"The holiday season is one of the company's busiest times of year, and the stoppages will hit three big markets — Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle," she reports.

Amazon warehouse workers at seven facilities went on strike yesterday morning, led by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, per Axios' Avery Lotz.

"The union says workers decided to walk out after Amazon ignored a Dec. 15 deadline for contract negotiations," she reports.

👎 Bankrupt retailer Big Lots is planning to close all of its stores after its bankruptcy sale to Nexus Capital fell through, it said yesterday.

But the company said that it "continues to work toward completing an alternative going concern transaction with Nexus or another party" and that its going-out-of-business sale would not preclude its efforts.

🥩 Unilever, as part of an ongoing effort to sharpen its portfolio, said it received a binding offer from Zwanenberg Food Group to acquire the Dutch brand Unox and the Belgium brand Zwan.

The conglomerate notes that it has owned the businesses for nearly 100 years. It hopes to complete a transaction in 2025.

👗 Shein is weighing whether to ask U.K. regulators whether it can float less than 10% of its shares in a London listing, Reuters reports.

If allowed, it would likely be the first company allowed to list below the 10% rule, the news service says.

👚 Clothing retailer Torrid's corporate family rating was downgraded to B3, the cusp of distressed, from B2 by Moody's.

The rating agency noted that a "significant earnings recovery is unlikely over the next 12-18 months, given pressures on consumer discretionary spending and the highly competitive and promotional apparel environment."

🍽️ Nutrisystem-parent Wellful's corporate family rating was downgraded to Caa2 from Caa1 by Moody's.

It follows an "announcement that the company completed a discounted debt exchange concurrent with the acquisition of Ancient Nutrition," per the rating agency.

2. Retail therapy

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3. Catch up quick

Need to find retail deals you missed? Go deeper into our full database in the Axios Pro Deals Tracker.

• Oura, a Finnish smart sleep rings maker, raised $200m in Series D funding at a $5.2b valuation co-led by Fidelity and Dexcom. Go deeper

• Slip Robotics, a Norcross, Ga., maker of truck-loading robots, raised $28m in Series B funding. DCVC led, with participation from insiders Eve Atlas, Tech Square Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Overline, and Pathbreaker Ventures. Go deeper

• Mantis Robotics, a Pleasanton, Calif., developer of physical AI for robotic automation, raised $5m. Emerald Technology Ventures led and was joined by Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund. Go deeper

• Loadar, a U.K. freight procurement and management startup, raised $4m in seed funding. Frontline Ventures led and was joined by Techstart Ventures. Go deeper

• Meight, a Portuguese freight trucking management platform, raised €3.4m led by Cusp Capital. Go deeper

• ICL, a specialty minerals company, made a follow-on investment in Plantible Foods and participated in its Series B round. Go deeper

🧀 Avance Investment Management and AUA PE Partners acquired a majority stake in Tropical Cheese, a dairy products maker based in New Jersey that Reuters reported could fetch more than $500m. Go deeper

• Bain Capital is in talks to buy Sizzling Platter, a Utah franchisor of quick-serve restaurants like Little Caesars and Jersey Mike's, for over $1b (including assumed debt) from CapitalSpring, per Reuters. Go deeper

• The Riverside Co. acquired a controlling stake in Essential Compositions, a Spanish fragrances company. Go deeper

• SBJ Capital acquired a stake in Simon Pearce, the Vermont glass and pottery maker. Go deeper

 • Dunes Point Capital acquired a controlling stake in Kravet, the Woodbury, N.Y., home furnishings and fabric distributor. Twin Brook Capital Partners and Lord Abbett provided the debt for the transaction. Go deeper

• Xceed Foodservice Group, backed by San Francisco Equity Partners, has invested in Acclaim Foodservice. Go deeper

• KKR invested in cloud kitchen company Rebel Foods. Go deeper

• McCormick & Co., an ingredients company, is in talks to acquire Duke's Mayo owner Sauer Brands from Falfurrias Capital Partners for more than $1b, Bloomberg reported. Go deeper

• Kerry Co-Operative Creameries Limited shareholders voted to back a deal to buy the dairy processing arm of Kerry Group Plc in a deal valued at €500m. Go deeper 

• Tangle Teezer, the London detangling haircare company, was acquired by Bic from Mayfair Equity Partners for about €200 million. Go deeper

• Kingfisher (KGF.L), a British home improvement retailer, is selling its Brico Depot Romania business to Altex Romania for €70m. Go deeper

• Post Holdings agrees to acquire Potato Products of Idaho, a maker and packager of refrigerated and frozen potato products. Go deeper

• David's Bridal, a retailer owned by CION Investments, acquired wedding media brand Love Stories TV. Go deeper

• Harbour Group acquired pet-grooming supplies provider Senproco. Go deeper

• AppDirect, a B2B commerce platform, acquired Andreesen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins-backed Firstbase, a business-equipment management platform. Go deeper

• TaylorMade Golf acquired putter craftsman Logan Olson. Go deeper

• Unified Commerce Group acquired a majority stake in womenswear brand Böhme. Go deeper

• Pañpuri, a Thai beauty brand, was acquired by Japanese beauty giant Kosé. Go deeper

• Brazilian businessman Nelson Tanure has acquired a 9% stake in Pao de Açucar holding company, Cia. Brasileira de Distrubuição, or GPA, is waiting for regulatory approval to acquire grocery chain Dia, which is owned by Lyra II investment fund, per Bloomberg. Go deeper

• Jimmy Collins, the cofounder and CEO of British fashion brand YMC, has acquired a majority of YMC's shares previously owned by French Connection. Go deeper

• BurgerFi, which was acquired out of bankruptcy by lender TREW Capital Management, was acquired by Savvy Sliders CEO Happy Asker. Go deeper

• Regis Corp., the haircare company, has acquired its largest franchisee, Alline Salon Group, in a deal valued at $22m. Go deeper

• Helen of Troy closes its acquisition of nail care brand Olive & June. Go deeper

• General Mills closed its $1.45b acquisition of Whitebridge Pet Brands' North American premium cat food and pet treat business from NXMH. Go deeper

• Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) said it plans to sell its Chinese department store unit Intime and book a $1.3b loss from the deal. Go deeper.

• Vishal Mega Mart, the Indian retailer backed by Kedaara Capital and Partners Group, raised $944m in its Mumbai IPO. Go deeper

• Delta Galil Industries (TLV: DELG), a Caesarea, Israel, owner of brands like 7 for All Mankind, confidentially filed to publicly trade its shares in the U.S. Go deeper

• Rhode, the Los Angeles fashion brand, plans to shut down. Go deeper

4. Retail transactions

• Stella King, a Moncler veteran, was named independent non-executive director at Burberry. Go deeper

• Michael Creedon, who worked at auto parts retailer Advance Auto Parts, was named permanent CEO of Dollar Tree. Go deeper

• Drew Wilson, who served as SoundCloud's COO and CFO, was named COO of digital media and e-commerce immersive technologies company Infinite Reality. Go deeper

• Stephen Fanning, a medical aesthetics veteran, was named to the board of BeautyHealth. Go deeper

• Logan Olson, the putter craftsman, will join TaylorMade Golf as the principal designer of Olson products. Go deeper

• Dustin Jones, the founder of United Commerce Group, will become CEO of womenswear brand Böhme. Go deeper

• Michael Smith, COO of Lamb Weston, was named CEO, succeeding Thomas Werner, who stepped down and left the board. Go deeper

• Greg Finchum was named president of Food Lion, succeeding Meg Ham, effective May 2025. Go deeper

• Matthieu Blazy, a former Bottega Veneta design chief, was named creative director of Chanel. Go deeper

• Scott McPherson was promoted to president and COO of Performance Food Group, and Craig Hoskins will become the company's chief development officer. Go deeper

• John Diez was named president and COO of Ryder System, the supply chain and transportation company. Go deeper

• Natasha Fishman, an Authentic Brands Group veteran, was named CMO of Marquee Brands. Go deeper

• Sonika Patel, who most recently served as the head of marketing at Ticketmaster North America, was named CMO of PF Chang's. Go deeper

• James Mitarotonda, the founder of activist investor Barington Capital, Ana Amicarella and Chan Galbato were nominated to the board of casket maker Matthews International. Go deeper

December 20, 2024

1 big thing: Bardelia eyes M&A for retail expansion