Nexture acquires La Crema, strengthening its presence in the Middle East and expanding its offering

Nexture has signed an agreement for the acquisition of La Crema, a Dubai-based company specialising in the production of chocolate and value-added food ingredients for ice cream, baking and fine pastry.

Once completed, the acquisition will enable Nexture to establish a direct production presence in the Middle East and expand its commercial positioning in a region that is strategic to the Group’s growth, characterised by a large and expanding ingredients segment. Following completion, the transaction is expected to expand the offering of value-added solutions, adding creams and other chocolate-based products, solutions for ice cream, ready-to-use powder mixes and fruit fillings to the portfolio.

La Crema

Based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, La Crema was founded by Bilal Khalife in 2016 as a commercial business serving the Horeca channel. In 2018, the company launched direct production, while maintaining a sales network comprising wholesalers, distributors and large-scale retail operators. Its established presence in Dubai represents a strategic platform for Nexture from which to serve customers throughout the Middle East and seize new growth opportunities in the region.

Today, La Crema offers a diversified portfolio of chocolate sauces and creams, chocolate bars, drops and buttons, assorted chocolates, solutions for ice cream, ready-to-use powder mixes and fruit fillings, marketed under the La Crema brand and as private label products. The company employs approximately 170 people in production, operations, sales and marketing at its Dubai facility.

The Group’s development

Following completion of the acquisition, the Group’s industrial presence is expected to expand from the 8 initial sites of 2021 to 30 production sites globally, including 2 in North America, 4 in Africa, 1 in the Middle East, 1 in Asia and the remaining 22 spread across 8 European countries. In parallel, the workforce is expected to increase, reaching more than 2.900 employees.

Following the acquisitions of Frulact and Sipral Padana, completed in March and April 2026 respectively, the acquisition of La Crema marks a further step in Nexture’s growth strategy, aimed at enabling it to establish itself as one of the world’s leading suppliers of value-added solutions for the food & beverage industry, as part of a programme developed with the support of Investindustrial’s Operational Improvement Advisory Team.

Since the acquisition of Csm Ingredients in 2021, when the Group generated 517 million euros in revenue, Nexture has become a global business with estimated annual revenues of approximately 1,2 billion euros on a pro-forma basis, including the acquisition of La Crema.

The comment

Valerie-Diele Braun, CEO of Nexture, said: "This acquisition represents an important step in Nexture’s international growth strategy and will enable us to establish our first production presence in the Middle East and gain direct access to one of the most dynamic sectors of the global ingredients industry. La Crema is expected to integrate naturally into our portfolio and strengthen our offering of value-added solutions with a diversified range of chocolate-based products, creating new opportunities for synergies within the Group. We are particularly excited to strengthen our offering in chocolate, a category capable of inspiring creativity, winning over consumers and creating lasting value for our customers. We are pleased to begin this partnership with Bilal Khalife, who founded and has developed La Crema to date, and to work with him to support the company through the next stage of its growth journey".

This article was translated from the original Italian version with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In case of discrepancies, please refer to the original Italian version.