Hey Folks, Tim has shared these comms on Reddit so wanted to come here and share some news with you all so you remain in the loop.
Hi all,
I want to keep you updated as we expect there to be some press about this. The CMA (the UK regulator) has approved Danone’s acquisition of Huel, making the UK the last of four countries to clear the deal. The CMA’s website should update today and you can see any of those updates here. We expect this to complete in early September once the final pieces of admin are undertaken, where ownership transfers from our current stakeholders to Danone.
I know that some of you are sceptical and cautious about this change. Danone’s message to us has been consistent: they’ve bought Huel because it’s working, and their interest is in helping us grow it.
What this means for you
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There will be no changes to your subscription, your account, your orders or the prices you pay as a result of this acquisition.
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James McMaster stays on as CEO, and the senior leadership team stays with him.
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The one change is our founder, Julian. He has been working one day a week for a while now, and this is the point where he steps away. He’ll still be at the end of the phone when we want his view.
On changes to Huel
What I said in the announcement thread was that nothing changes as a direct result of the acquisition. That’s still true, but what I’m not saying is “nothing will ever change again.”
Danone isn’t arriving with a list of changes to implement from day one. Huel has evolved constantly for 11 years. Formulas, flavours, packaging, pricing, the website. Some of those changes were popular, some weren’t, and some we reversed. That will carry on, because that’s how the products get developed, and it would have carried on with or without a change in ownership. So when something does change, we’ll keep explaining it and listening to you.
A note on why the CMA review happened
When the CMA started their review, the news coverage called it a “probe”, which made it seem more out of the ordinary than it actually was. To be clear, we took the deal to the CMA ourselves. Merger notification in the UK is voluntary, so we didn’t have to, but on a deal this size we went for the most thorough approach. This was all part of the normal process.
Final thoughts
I’ll finish on this. It’s a strange one for us, because at Huel we’re excited. This is the culmination of over 11 years of hard work. Growth businesses needs investment and we are very grateful to the investors who believed in us 8 years ago. Now marks the moment where they hand on the baton. I know some of you are sceptical, I hope that’s because you love the products and want to carry on using them. We also love the products, use them daily and want them to be the best they can be and that doesn’t change.
Questions
I’ll be in the comments. If you’ve got questions, ask here and we’ll answer what we can.
