United Petfood Takes Half of SmartPetPro in Premium Wet Food Play
The Belgian private-label giant is buying 50 percent of a fast-growing German wet food producer as premium formats keep gaining share.
By Good Company Editorial Desk
By Good Company Editorial Desk | September 29, 2026
The News
United Petfood, the Belgium-based private-label pet food manufacturer headquartered in Ghent, acquired a 50 percent stake in SmartPetPro, a German producer of premium wet pet food, in a deal announced in mid-July 2026. Both companies described the transaction as the beginning of a long-term strategic partnership.
SmartPetPro chief executive Lars Oehlmann will continue to lead the company, and co-founders Stefan Pfannmöller and Erich Herrmann remain involved. The partnership lays the groundwork for expanding SmartPetPro's production site in Dessau-Roßlau, Germany. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Why It Matters
Wet pet food has been one of the stronger growth formats in European pet food, and premium wet is where the margin sits. For United Petfood, which built its scale as a private-label manufacturer, taking half of SmartPetPro is a way to get closer to the premium end of the market without building a brand from zero. The 50-50 structure is notable: it is a genuine partnership rather than a takeover, which suggests United Petfood wants SmartPetPro's product expertise and entrepreneurial management as much as its capacity.
For the broader market, the deal shows how consolidation in European pet food manufacturing keeps marching on. Scale players are using partnerships and partial stakes to lock in capacity in growth segments, and independent producers with strong product credentials are finding they can take investment without selling out entirely.
The Numbers
United Petfood brings serious scale to the partnership: 29 production sites across Europe and the Americas, customers in more than 110 countries, and annual turnover exceeding 1.6 billion euros (about US$1.8 billion). SmartPetPro, by contrast, is the fast-growing specialist, focused on premium wet recipes out of Dessau in eastern Germany.
The missing number, as with most European pet food deals this summer, is the price. With terms undisclosed, the valuation of a premium wet food growth asset in 2026 stays a matter of speculation. The planned expansion of the Dessau-Roßlau site is the concrete commitment to watch, since capacity investment is where the partners are putting real money.
What To Watch
The Dessau-Roßlau expansion is the first milestone: how fast it moves and how much capacity it adds will signal how bullish the partners are on premium wet demand. The second question is whether the partnership model gets replicated. If a 50 percent stake with founders staying on works here, expect United Petfood and its peers to use the same structure for other specialist producers. And watch SmartPetPro's customer base: the company will need to reassure existing clients that a private-label giant owning half the business does not change its independence or its recipe standards.
Sources
United Petfood Acquires 50% Stake in SmartPetPro (Petfood Industry, July 2026)