Organic Chocolatier Alter Eco Announces Acquisition By Trek One Capital

Alter Eco has shifted hands once again.

Texas-based investment firm Trek One Capital announced today its acquisition of the Fair Trade, regenerative confections and pantry staples producer, having officially closed the deal in December 2023. Terms were not disclosed.

The transaction coincides with a leadership shift. Arnulfo Ventura, who joined the company in 2022 from chip brand Beanfield’s, officially departed from the CEO role in September and was succeeded by Keith Bearden, an advisor to Alter Eco’s previous owner NextWorld Evergreen (NWE), ahead of the closing. Bearden was tasked with leading Alter Eco through the acquisition and will remain on as the company’s CEO.

“I look forward to my partnership with Trek One along with their support and commitment to take the Alter Eco premium brand of products to the next level,” Bearden said in a statement.

Alter Eco was founded in 2004 as a mission-based company to support cacao farmers in South America. The company boasts regenerative agriculture, organic and Fair Trade claims across its product lines, which includes chocolate bars, truffles, granola and quinoa products.

In 2017, Alter Eco was acquired from its co-founders Edouard Rollet and Mathieu Senard by strategic equity firm NWE. Following its acquisition by NWE, Rollet and Senard told Nosh that while it wasn’t the highest bid the company received, the brand’s stakeholders felt the evergreen fund was the right fit for Alter Eco and its mission since it had less pressure to quickly produce returns.

Under its ownership, Alter Eco launched its charitable arm, The Alter Eco Foundation, in 2020 to support dynamic agroforestry in the Amazon and help farmers adopt regenerative practices. The strategic equity firms’ portfolio also included similar purpose-minded brands like Mighty Leaf Tea and acai producer Sambazon.

Trek One, a newly established investment vehicle, counts Tejas Environmental Solutions, a waste water and salt water disposal service provider, as its only other portfolio company. According to operating partner and CFO Brian Fontana, the firm was created from a combination of family offices, existing businesses and investment vehicles.

Fontana was introduced to Alter Eco through an individual who was looking for a capital partner to help buy the business after NWE decided to divest its ownership stake. Trek One saw this acquisition as an opportunity to diversify its approach beyond the energy sector, but Fontana said it has no immediate plans to expand further into food and beverage.

Alter Eco has moved its headquarters from San Francisco to Houston, Texas. The company’s entire labor force worked remotely prior to the deal, and Fontana said all full-time employees will remain with the company, but certain finance and accounting contractors have been eliminated due to redundancies with Trek One’s in-house capabilities. As it looks ahead, Fontana said the primary focus will be expanding Alter Eco’s distribution beyond its traditional roots in natural and specialty stores.

“The previous owners either didn’t want to focus on growth [or] they were happy with the consistency of the annual revenue and turnover that the company had,” said Fontana. “There’s a capital requirement to expand the business, and … our focus is to provide the capital and the leadership to expand the business to other markets in addition to expanding the product offering itself.”