The Nawhal’s brand changes hands: halal attracts investment funds

The movement is accelerating in the French and European halal food industry.

After Isla Délice, Oumaty and Oummi, it is now Nawhal’sa key brand in kebabs, tacos and fast foods, which joins a group controlled by an investment fund. On July 31, 2026, the French group Haudecoeur has finalized the acquisition of Heliadis, the Belgian company that owns Nawhal’s. Haudecoeur is itself majority controlled by Apheona European private equity fund that manages approximately €4.5 billion in assets.

Algerian, Biggy Burger, Samurai, Andalusian… Nawhal’s has established itself for more than twenty years with thousands of restaurateurs and consumers, particularly in the halal catering ecosystem. Taken in isolation, this acquisition could seem like a classic operation in the agri-food industry. But it comes after several major changes in French halal.

End of 2025, A&M Capital Europe became the majority shareholder ofIsla Délice. A few weeks later, the same fund, associated with the Saudi group Zamil, acquired a stake inOumaty. The group that owns Isla Délice also acquired the brands Oummi and Ital’al. In a few months, several iconic brands consumed by Muslims have changed owners.

The interest in funds is not difficult to understand. Halal represents a growing market, driven by a young and loyal clientele. It also remains relatively fragmented, with many family-owned or independent businesses that have now reached a size large enough to interest investors.

For several decades, this market was built by entrepreneurs who created brands, developed wholesale networks, convinced large-scale retailers and won the trust of Muslim consumers. Today, as halal has become a major market, investment funds are starting to gradually bring together these companies.

This development nevertheless raises an important question: Are Muslims at risk of gradually losing economic control of a market that they largely contributed to creating? The issue goes beyond just brand ownership. Halal is not just a commercial category. For Muslims, it implies compliance with precise religious prescriptions concerning in particular slaughtering, ingredients, manufacturing processes and traceability.

The fact that a brand is bought by a fund obviously does not mean that its halal guarantees will disappear. But the more the decision-making centers move away from the historical founders, the more the question of the independence of certification, maintenance of specifications and traceability becomes important. Because behind a halal logo lies above all the consumer’s confidence in respecting a religious rite.

Isla Délice, Oumaty, Oummi, Nawhal’s: the multiplication of operations shows that halal has entered a new phase. That of the industrial and financial concentration. These investments can enable brands to grow, export and invest more. But they also pose a strategic question for Muslim entrepreneurs: tomorrow, will they still be owners of the major European halal brands, or only consumers of a market that they themselves helped to build? The challenge of the coming years will perhaps be as much to create new brands as to bring about the emergence of real industrial and financial groups capable of maintaining lasting control.