DLA Piper has advised Lotus Bakeries "Lotus" on its acquisition of The Kids Food Company Limited and Kids Food Global Limited "Kiddylicious", an innovative British food company that creates nutritious, portion-controlled snacks and meals for babies, toddlers and pre-school children.

"This is an exciting time for Lotus as they continue to strengthen their natural foods brand in the UK and overseas."

The acquisition forms part of Lotus' strategic vision to focus on the health and food segment of the market, and create an offering of appeal to a wider consumer group, with a versatile range of snacks across all age groups. Kiddylicious is additive Lotus' natural foods business unit, which was created following the acquisitions of the Nakd, TREK, BEAR and Urban Fruit brands in 2015.

The DLA Piper Birmingham-based Corporate team was led by partner Tim Lake with support from associates Suzanne Doogan and Victoria Steele.

Commenting on the transaction, Tim said: "This is an exciting time for Lotus as they continue to strengthen their natural foods brand in the UK and overseas. We are delighted to continue our longstanding relationship with Lotus and to have supported them on such a significant acquisition. Our wealth of experience and knowledge of the Food & Beverage/Retail sector was effectively deployed during the transaction process . We wish Lotus and Kiddylicious all continued success in their future endeavours."

Jan Boone, CEO of Lotus, said, "We are very proud to welcome the Kiddylicious brand, founders Sally and Neil, and everyone from the Kiddylicious team into our Lotus family. We are excited as we firmly believe that the Kiddylicious brand has a delicious and extensive product offering for babies and toddlers, which enriches our product range in the healthier snacking segment. Lotus Bakeries can help in realising the next level of growth for Kiddylicious by leveraging its international potential and further strengthen the position of Kiddylicious in its home market the UK."

Kiddylicious was founded by Sally Preston, mother of two and former Marks & Spencer food scientist, in 2009, to help deliver delicious, nutritious food for growing children, to help development and instil a positive attitude towards health and nutrition for their future. Kiddylicious is the fastest growing brand in the UK baby food market and has become a must-stock brand for all major retailers as well as selling in multiple countries worldwide.