Sports nutrition company Cizzle Brands has acquired the manufacturing operations of Canadian water producer Flow Beverage.
The deal sees Cizzle Brands purchase all issued and outstanding shares in Flow Water for around C$83.75m ($60.8m) from RI Flow Sub, a statement from the Cwench Hydration brand owner said.
In its own statement, Flow Beverage said its brand-related assets have been carved out into a new entity, Flow Canada, which is wholly owned by US-based family office Rucker Investments.
Rucker Investments will retain a minority stake in the manufacturing business following the deal.
"Separating the brand from day-to-day plant operations gives both businesses a clearer focus," said Cliff Rucker, founder of Rucker Investments and owner of RI Flow Sub.
"Retaining a minority stake in the manufacturing operations keeps us meaningfully engaged while giving the Flow brand the independence, agility and resources needed to scale."
Flow Beverage was placed into receivership in September after encountering financial difficulties.
In August, Nicholas Reichenbach stepped down as executive chairman and CEO of Flow Beverage as the company faced pressure from lenders NFS Leasing Canada and RI Flow.
Under the revised structure, Flow said it will become "a focused consumer brand organisation, supported by a diversified manufacturing network".
With backing from Rucker Investments and a leaner organisational model, Flow said it will focus on brand growth across North America, as well as "stronger customer relationships, and scalable production through multiple partners".
Flow Canada will continue to manage all brand, sales, marketing, sustainability and customer relationship functions.
The company added it will “work closely” with Cizzle Brands and intends to bring in additional manufacturing partners “as needed”.
No jobs were cut as part of the transition.
Cizzle Brands said that following the deal, Flow Water will focus “exclusively” on its “established and profitable” beverage co-manufacturing activities.
The business plans to rename Flow Water to Cizzle Brands Manufacturing, and Flow’s plant in Aurora, Ontario, will be rebranded to the Cwench Hydration Factory.
Cizzle expects the acquisition to “immediately add meaningful scale” to its revenue base.
On a pro forma basis, the manufacturing business is forecasted to deliver approximately C$21.5m in revenue in the second half of fiscal 2026 and around C$46.5m in fiscal 2027.
As a result, the combined business is projected to generate pro forma consolidated revenue of about C$41m in fiscal 2026 and approximately C$75m in fiscal 2027.
Cizzle said the transaction “materially accelerates” its route to profitability and “strengthens its long-term operating platform”.
It described the acquisition as immediately accretive and said it positions the company to become EBITDA-positive and cash-flow positive on a “significantly accelerated basis” compared with the standalone growth outlook for Cwench Hydration, Spoken Nutrition and HappiEats.
The company said it also expects the deal will help it gain internal manufacturing capacity for Cwench, which should significantly lower the cost of goods sold as volumes increase and improve production control and reliability.
John Celenza, founder and CEO of Cizzle Brands, said: “By acquiring Flow’s manufacturing business, we are adding a substantial and profitable manufacturing platform that immediately increases revenue, improves margins, and materially accelerates our path to sustainable cash flow.
“Just as importantly, we now control a critical part of our value chain, which positions us to support the continued growth of Cwench and future brands with far greater efficiency.
“With Tetra Pak capacity in North America being quite scarce, this acquisition allows us to immediately become an industry leader in sustainable and eco-friendly packaging in the Tetra format.”
