Orkla Snacks to Buy European Candy Group for $239M to Fuel Expansion of Bubs Vegan Gummies
Nordic CPG giant Orkla Snacks has agreed to acquire the European Candy Group for €207M ($239M) to boost the production and footprint of its viral Bubs brand of vegan gummies.
After witnessing a TikTok-fuelled shortage, a US expansion, and a place on Time Magazine’s Best Inventions list, Orkla Snacks is strengthening the production of its plant-based foamy gummies, Bubs.
The Nordic company has entered an agreement to purchase vegan confectionery manufacturer the European Candy Group – also known as Continental Candy Industries (CCI) – in a €207M ($239M) deal.
The cash- and debt-free deal, expected to close later this year, will help Orkla Snacks increase the production capacity of its Bubs products, supporting its growth in the Nordic markets and enabling faster expansion into other European countries.
Acquisition will help Orkla Snacks avoid another viral Bubs shortage
Bubs was established in 1992 by the Lindstörm family, turning sustainable Swedish candy into a global success. Its founders sold the business to Orkla Snacks in 2022, and the brand’s popularity has only skyrocketed since.
The company makes vegan gummies in ovals, skulls and diamonds using a proprietary recipe and manufacturing technique that give them a foamy texture. In early 2024, Bubs went viral on social media, following a few influencer hauls from candy store BonBon sent sales soaring.
What ensued was an unprecedented global shortage that, in the company’s own words, “came as a total surprise”. Consumers, retailers and distributors across the world – from the US and the UK to France and South Korea – kept calling Orkla Snacks, which was forced to refuse orders due to the lack of supply. In fact, Bubs was also being sold on the grey market.
A year later, the firm partnered with Texas-based Mount Franklin Foods, which has since produced and sold Bubs in the US, where the gummies are now available in over 35,000 retail stores.
To further plug the supply gap, it signed a deal with CCI to supply select Bubs products. The Dutch manufacturer is one of the largest producers of private-label confectionery, sweets, and sugar-free innovations for European retailers, with a portfolio that includes vegan, specialty and traditional sweets like jelly beans, hard-boiled sweets, and liquorice.
CCI operates four facilities, three in the Netherlands and one in Germany. It posted revenues of €94M ($108.6M) in 2025 and expects this figure to reach €110M ($127M) this year, with an EBITDA total of €21M ($24.3M).
Consolidation wave hits plant-based confectionery
Through the acquisition, Orkla plans to maintain CCI’s existing profitable business, while gradually ramping up production of Bubs to serve export markets with high demand.
“CCI is a natural strategic fit for Orkla Snacks. The company brings unique expertise in the sugar confectionery market and a broad customer network spanning several European countries,” said Orkla Snacks CEO Invill T Berg.
“The proposed acquisition will strengthen Orkla Snacks’ position in Europe and enable Bubs to expand its offering into new markets,” he added.
The acquisition reflects the ongoing wave of consolidation in the vegan food and wider alternative protein sector. Over the last two years, more than 80 companies have been acquired, merged, fallen into insolvency, or called it quits.
Within the plant-based snacking and confectionery world, Unilever sold its Graze brand to Katjes International’s vegan brand Candy Kittens in a $46M transaction last year.
Meanwhile, Fengate Private Equity acquired a majority stake in Canadian baked goods company Sweets from the Earth, and chocolate label LoveRaw was rescued from administration by European food manufacturer Smart Organic.