Once completed, the acquisition will allow Nexture to establish its first manufacturing presence in the Middle East, significantly enhancing its commercial foothold in a strategically important growth region. It also broadens its offering of value-added solutions, expanding the portfolio with a more extensive range of chocolate products, such as cream fillings, bars, chips and buttons, as well as ice cream solutions, ready-mix powders and fruit fillings. 

It expands the Group’s industrial footprint from eight factories at entry in 2021 to 30 factories worldwide, including two in North America, four in Africa, one in the Middle East, one in Asia, and the remaining 22 across eight European countries. In parallel, the workforce will reach over 2900 employees.

Headquartered in Dubai, UAE, La Crema was founded by Bilal Khalife in 2016 as a trading business serving the HoReCa segment, and expanded into in-house manufacturing in 2018, combining production with a distribution network spanning wholesalers, distributors and retailers.  

Valerie-Diele Braun, Nexture chief executive officer, said: “This acquisition marks an important step in our global growth strategy, establishing our first manufacturing footprint in the Middle East and giving us direct access to one of the world’s fastest-growing ingredients markets. La Crema is a natural fit for our portfolio, adding a rich and diversified chocolate offering to our value-added solutions and unlocking meaningful synergies across the Group. We're also particularly excited to strengthen our chocolate offering, as it is a category that inspires creativity, delights consumers and creates lasting value for our customers. We are delighted to partner with Mr Bilal Khalife, who has built and developed La Crema into the business it is today.”

Following the acquisitions of Frulact and Sipral Padana, which were completed in March and April 2026 respectively, Nexture’s acquisition of La Crema marks another milestone in its ambitious buy-and-build strategy to become one of the leading global providers of value-added solutions in the food and beverage industry.

Since the acquisition of CSM Ingredients in 2021, when the Group generated €517 million in sales, Nexture has evolved into a global group, with estimated annual revenues of approximately €1.2 billion1, pro-forma for the recently signed acquisition of La Crema. 

Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is currently expected to take place by the end of 2026.

(1) Financials pro-forma for March 2026 LTM, as per public bondholder disclosure.