After a lot of closed door meetings over several months, the Board of BDI, led by Franz Toft, has decided to sell off their pet foods division. While Naturnalia Pet Foods has remained a profitable venture, the company has decided that they no longer want to continue to focus on pet foods, instead shifting resources to their beverage, hospitality, entertainment, and restaurant divisions. It has been evident for some time that no new innovation was emanating from the company, and the R&D subdivision had been greatly shrunk over the years. New products were in development with the R&D division of Naturnalia before being shelved during the budget freeze such as treats, raw frozen diets, toys, small pet diet lines (rabbits, chinchillas, guinea pigs, reptiles), and more recipes of cat and dog dry kibble and canned food.
While still a very known and trusted brand, Naturnalia has not quite remained current and fresh in comparison to the competition, although many say that with true quality like that which Naturnalia provides, no innovation is necessary to keep it relevant. That being said, BDI is no longer interested in maintaining or improving this division or acquiring any other pet food brands.
BDI will begin receiving proposals from bidders who will best represent the ideals of Naturnalia and its founder, Gianni DiMasso.
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THE TERMS
- The Bidders must outline their intentions, agree to the stipulations for the sale, and conduct themselves in a professional manner, as well as offering a reasonable sum to make it worth BDI's time to hear out said proposals and counter-proposals.
- The BDI transition negotiation team will inform all interested parties of any new bids received so that they may be able to make a counter-proposal in a fair amount of time or decline to further negotiate.
- Brand and logos become property of the new owners, with the ability to improve upon said brands, packaging, and marketing, as well as develop new product lines, including the ones mentioned being shelved in the R&D division.
- All directly Naturnalia owned outlet locations within Neu Engollon, and overseas, become assets of the new owners upon confirmation of the sale, with limited franchisee rights maintained. Vendor relations will be retained unless vendors choose to void contracts, or new ownership decides the vendor is not cost efficient to operations.
- The DiMasso family will retain their 7% stake control within the company, while BDI will retain a further 8% stake. An additional 10% stake is owned by various other share holders, with no single share holder owning more than 3% stake, aside from the DiMasso family and BDI; with a combined total of 25% stake not transferring to the new owners.
A member of the DiMasso family will retain a seat on the Executive Board, to also represent BDI, for five years after the sale, with stake ownership, terms, and buyouts of the remaining stakes re-negotiable within 2 years.- While it is expected that the new winning bid company will want to fill their own personnel in the top executive positions; mid-level management, production, distribution, sales, marketing, IT, customer service, R&D, and all other Naturnalia Pet Foods internal divisions must retain at least 75% of original workforce, with personnel only terminated from employment if they choose to quit, retire, or are in egregious violation of employee conduct agreements or violation of felony laws within their jurisdictions.
Should any original existing employees from before the change of ownership be physically unable to continue to perform their original position tasks, reasonable accommodations must be made to find a new position within the company for these newly disabled employees. If no new duties can be found to match the employee's skill set, a reasonable severance package must be provided along with assistance in finding new employment.
New hires may, of course, be employed at the discretion of the new owners.- Headquarters will move from Ciavno, Tavino, Neu Engollon to wherever the new owners deem it best. BDI will transition most operational offices out of Neu Engollon, except for localized regional production and distribution, to the new parent company's desired location.
As mentioned, existing production facilities will be maintained in the founder nation of Neu Engollon, while those facilities in other nations will be discussed with the Board before closure. Of course, the new owners are able to open any additional facilities they see fit in any location deemed necessary to maintain and expand operations.- A new retailing and informational website will be developed by the new owners, with maintenance and operating costs assumed by them, along with transitional costs covered from the original hosting server and any transition, IT/Development team, and equipment transferal costs.
- Failure to meet terms of the acquisition within 8 months means that the Naturnalia Pet Foods line sale will be negated and the assets will revert back to BDI, with BDI retaining half the sale cost and compensating the other half to the failed owners.
- Bidding will be frozen at exactly 2 weeks from the time of the start of the process and starts at 18 Billion NSD. However, if BDI has decided that a suitable bid has not been submitted within that time, then they may terminate negotiations or re-open bidding.
Bids may be submitted in writing to Gianni DiMasso, CEO of Naturnalia and BDI VP of Pet Foods Division; as well as the BDI Division Transition Team.