The company acquired the remaining 20 percent of the on! oral nicotine global business.
Altria Group Inc. continues to invest in innovative tobacco products.
CEO Billy Gifford announced that the tobacco company acquired the remaining 20 percent of the on! oral nicotine pouches global business it did not own for approximately $250 million.
“When we made the initial 80-percent acquisition in 2019, the oral nicotine pouch category in the U.S. was rapidly growing off of a small base,” Gifford said during Altria’s first-quarter 2021 earnings call, held April 29. “Subsequently, on! nicotine pouch growth has exceeded our original estimates.”
Altria entered the oral nicotine category in June 2019 with a definitive agreement to acquire 80 percent of certain companies of Burger Söhne Holding AG that commercialize on! products worldwide. Upon closing the deal, a newly formed Altria subsidiary, Helix Innovations LLC, became the parent company of Burger Group subsidiaries currently manufacturing and selling on!, as Convenience Store News previously reported.
“In the first quarter of 2021, we estimate that retail share for on! nicotine pouches [was] approximately 13 percent of the total oral tobacco category, double its share in the year-ago period,” Gifford reported.
Melissa Kress – C-Store News – 2021-05-05.