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It's a new day for Flow packaged water brand with completion of transaction that sent its Tetra Pak plant outside Toronto to publicly traded Cizzle Brands while branded asset was put into new entity called Flow Canada LLC that's entirely owned by the family office Rucker Investments. Rucker, whose investments into Flow Hydration date back several years, operates mainly in real estate and entertainment/foodservice spheres. Its principal Cliff Rucker was lead investor in key financing component behind plant spinoff to Cizzle, meaning he retains key involvement on both sides of split co. The separation marks new phase for Flow, which largely inaugurated Tetra Pak as purportedly more sustainable package for water and rode its initial wave of interest to public listing via SPAC deal. But it proved bumpy ride marked by numerous expansions and retreats, even as twin Tetra Pak production plants it operated in Ontario and Virginia veered from being surplus assets for sale to being core operational assets. The Virginia plant was hived off in 2022 to BioSteel, which was then still run by its cofounder John Celenza, who now operates Cizzle. BioSteel itself has been in rebuilding mode under CEO Dan Crosby after blowing thru tens of millions in landgrab phase, when it recruited Constellation Brands as strategic partner. As part of transaction announced Christmas Eve (yup, we were already mixing up the toddy and missed it then), Flow Canada retains minority stake in operational arm housed at Cizzle, continuing as a client at Tetra Pak plant while free to seek additional production partners as needed. That plant, located in Aurora, also has hosted Beatbox and Joyburst as key clients. With founder and former CEO Nicholas Reichenbach out of the day-to-day picture now, Flow Canada is operating under Paul Dowdall as prexy. Ops/finance vet was installed in Jun following career that started in tech space at Bell Canada, Blackberry and Apple before moving to shorter stints in consumer space at players like SDI Marketing, Ice River Spring Water and Diamond Estates Wine & Spirits. In statement when announcement was made last week, Paul said, "By separating our manufacturing operations from our brand business, we are creating clarity, agility and a stronger foundation for long-term success." Announcement noted that no jobs were eliminated as part of transition, tho brand arm had had several waves of downsizing in past as financials grew more challenging.By now, after forays in other packaging formats and extensions like collagen-infused water and vitamin-enhanced water, Flow brand has gone back to basics, offering just its naturally alkaline spring water in plain and flavored versions in half-liter and 1-liter Tetras. The water is sourced from artesian springs in Ontario. Store locator on brand website indicates that brand continues to be found at Whole Foods, Sprouts and Publix as well as Amazon ecomm platform. It continues to push sustainability message, citing broader recyclability of Tetra Paks and its use of caps made from cane sugar, not plastic. It claims about two-thirds of paperboard used in packs comes from responsibly harvested forests.As for Cizzle, it operates Cwench hydration platform offered in Tetra Pak and powdered formats, as well as NSF-certified Spoken powdered supplement line and protein-rich HappiEats Sport Pasta line brought in from Italy. It acquired the Tetra Pak assets for $83.75 mil (Canadian), per its own announcement last week. It funded the deal via secured credit facility from Orion Infrastructure Capital in amount of US$40 mil along with C$22.5 mil vendor takeback loan from seller and two concurrent non-brokered private placements totaling C$12.25 mil with Rucker participation. The production entity now is called Cizzle Brands Manufacturing Inc and the Aurora plant itself is Cwench Hydration Factory. Unit will add $21.5 mil in revenue in 2H of fiscal 2026 and $46.5 mil in fiscal 2027. Cwench brand will enhance its margins by siting its own production in Aurora.

Flow Water in Rebuilding Mode Under Ruckers' Control as Tetra Pak Plant Segues to Cizzle Brands

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