Mondias Natural Products (NHP.V) announced their intent to acquire all of the assets of Erablier, a Quebec-based maple water products company.
We originally wrote about this story back when it was first announced in February. Erablier is a plant-based water beverages company that Mondias is banking on adding to its products-based portfolio so they can continue to offer their consumers healthy alternative-water options. Now that the deal is actually one more step towards being chiselled in stone, let’s talk money. The acquisition was valued at CAD$2 million.
Mondias is to pay an upfront $250,000 consideration by issuing 1,666,667 shares in escrow and released at 20% for every $1 million in net sales of Érablier products. There’s also a 4% royalty rate on net sales up to a maximum of $750,000. An advanced royalty rate payment of $68,500 will be payable when the financial conditions allow for it.
Also, Lino Fleury will join Mondias as brand director for Érablier. He brings extensive experience in the functional beverages market, and is the past inventor and founder of Slow Cow, a successful natural relaxation beverage using a mix of amino acids and a mixture of natural health products distributed worldwide since 2008.
“Érablier offers distinctive products that deliver the great taste and natural ingredients consumers are looking for. The opportunity to acquire a unique ready-to-market beverage with natural ingredients, from the largest source of plant-based water in North America is a great entry into the competitive functional beverages market. The addition of Mr. Fleury to our team with his prior experience with the successful launch of Slow Cow, is an important milestone in building the functional beverage franchise for our Company,” said Patrick Frankham, CEO for Mondias.
Absence of evidence
This company touts itself as an evidence-based botanical products for the healthcare, bio-agriculture and organic markets. Evidence-based usually means following under some variety of scientific consensus, but water is water regardless of whether or not the source is an artesian spring (although it may contain trace vitamins and minerals, the effect on the body is still the same), a coconut or the water obtained from a sugar maple tree sap.
Granted, there are a few small differences. Normal water, be it from a tap or a bottle, contains zero grams of sugar and has nothing extra to it, really. It’s only the most vital, precious resource we have on the planet, and totally vital to sustaining life, both yours and the planet’s. Maple water has about four grams of sugar, and now there’s some research suggesting that maple syrup (not water) has a few health benefits, and contains more than 50 different plant-based nutrients, including polyphenols and lignans.
Some of these chemicals have been shown to have anti-cancer properties in lab studies.
But that’s maple syrup and not maple water. The latter is so new that there isn’t much research behind its health claims yet.
We’re still waiting for the evidence there.
Still, Érablier has managed to produce a premium, in-demand product from said sap, enough in fact that data yanked from maple syrup water industry reports, shows that the demand for maple water has grown to exceed 16M Liters in 2018. Consumers who drink maple water, may enjoy the same experience as seen with coconut water, because it’s, you know, water. Two hydrogen molecules and one oxygen. But according to an industry report, the global coconut water market is valued at USD $2.5 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach USD $9 billion by the end of 2024, growing at a CAGR of 19.93% between 2017 and 2024, because the public system doesn’t get enough funding.
—Joseph Morton
