The France-based Lactalis Group agreed to acquire siggi's — a New York-headquartered maker of Icelandic-style skyr yogurts with "simple ingredients, not a lot of sugar" — for an undisclosed price.

siggi's was founded by Siggi Hilmarsson who, after moving to the United States from his native Iceland, began making yogurt in his kitchen because he found American yogurt too sweet and full of extra ingredients. The recipe was based on skyr, the Icelandic-style yogurt Siggi grew up eating in his native Iceland, the companies noted.

With seed investment from his former professor, Siggi started selling his yogurt at an outdoor market in downtown Manhattan in 2006. It is now the fastest-growing yogurt in conventional grocery, the companies said.

siggi's will continue operating out of its New York City office, the companies said, and will remain a standalone company under its current senior leadership team, which includes its founder as CEO, as well as Bart Adlam as president.

"We're excited to join the Lactalis family, which offers the opportunity to further fuel our growth," Hilmarsson said. "Our core values of clean ingredient label and less sugar will remain 100% unchanged. Consumers everywhere are actively trying to reduce sugar in their diets, so our offering has a global relevance."

Adlam noted that siggi's topline increased 50% in 2017.

“We expect to match this in 2018 as we launch further innovations,” he said. “We are excited to keep the momentum going with support from the largest dairy player in the world."

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC acted as the exclusive financial advisor and the Giannuzzi Group acted as legal counsel to siggi's, while Dentons US LLP acted as legal counsel to the Lactalis Group, on the sale. The acquisition is subject to expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act in the United States, the companies said.

"We are delighted to welcome siggi's to the Lactalis Group, which further expands our yogurt platform in the U.S. with this unique and fast-growing yogurt brand,” said Emmanuel Besnier, president of the Lactalis Group. “We look forward to supporting siggi's as it continues to bring its retail partners exceptional dollar growth in the yogurt category."