After a few sluggish years, experts on the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) environment for pet food and pet care predicted at least a slight upturn for 2026. Writing for Pet Age magazine in December 2025, Carol Frank, founder and owner of the BirdsEye Advisory Group, shared that six experts she surveyed were “cautiously optimistic” (as was she) on M&A prospects for 2026.
Then, in January 2026, Cascadia Capital, an investment firm specializing in the pet care industry, released its latest “Pet Industry Overview” report, which said that “despite changing market conditions, there is still demand and healthy valuations for attractive businesses with strong fundamentals and growth potential in the pet industry,” reported my colleague, Lisa Cleaver.
Note that all these experts focus on the U.S. market.
What has happened so far in 2026? January remained slow, with only a few pet distributor or retailer deals (all involving companies outside the U.S., by the way). But now in February, activity is ramping up with three acquisitions announced in just two weeks’ time:
- February 6 — Spanish food group Agrolimen (already the 15th largest pet food producer, according to the Top Pet Food Companies Database), said it’s acquiring Ollie, a fresh, human-grade pet food brand based in New York, USA.
- February 17 — Pure Treats, based in Canada, announced it’s buying U.S. company Primal Pet Foods, which produces raw and freeze-dried products.
- February 17 — Nasta Pet Food, a French company, announced its acquisition of Canada-based FirstMate Pet Foods.
(Who knew February 17 would become a banner day for pet food acquisitions?)
International is where it’s at for pet food M&A
A couple of themes about the February deals to date stand out. First, as in January, they all involved companies — either the acquirer, acquiree or both — based outside the U.S., including Canada and Europe. The more active pet food M&A environment in Europe follows a trend from the past two years, which saw first United Petfood in Belgium in 2024, then the Nutriment Co. in Sweden in 2025, go on buying sprees. The ramp-up in Canada seems more recent.
Second, two of the deals comprise the acquisition of a pet food company specializing in an alternative format. With Ollie, for example, Agrolimen augments its two raw pet food brands, Nature’s Variety and Natures Menu (both past acquisitions), with a fresh brand, one that also uses the increasingly popular direct-to-consumer business model.
And buying Primal expands Pure Treats’ freeze-dried and raw pet food manufacturing footprint, established with its PureBites brand.
It’s also worth noting that two of the deals involve private equity in one form for another. In the case of Primal, it’s now returning to independent ownership after being bought earlier by Kinderhook Industries, a private equity firm. Ollie had previously received backing from Primary Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, Quadrille Capital, ECP Growth and Lerer Hippeau.
The Nasta-FirstMate deal, on the other hand, unites two family-owned companies.
Private equity’s role
According to Cascadia’s January 2026 report, previous private equity deals may be reaching their end points. “Many pet consumables companies that attracted private equity investment in the early 2020s are approaching the end of their typical holding periods,” wrote another of my colleagues, Tim Wall. “These assets were acquired during a period of strong growth and elevated valuation multiples. As a result, owners are now weighing realized profitability gains against a less accommodating exit environment. This dynamic is expected to push some of these pet food and treat businesses back into the market in the near term.”
In fact, one of the M&A trends identified by Cascadia was major private equity-backed consumable companies testing the market. Even though that analysis applied to the U.S. M&A market, it likely also pertains to other parts of the world, possibly explaining a couple of the February deals.
Whether that trend leads to more activity, or the themes in M&A deals this month to date become trends themselves, spurring further acquisitions, it’s safe to say that February has become an interesting month for pet food companies to change hands. Remember eight years ago, when General Mills shocked everyone with the announcement that it was buying Blue Buffalo?
