Merino - Celano ice cream trademark dispute is about to come to an end

After nearly a year of turmoil over a trademark dispute at KIDO Group Corporation (KDC) following the revelation of the KidoFoods sale, it seems the process is gradually coming to an end after KIDO revealed new information.

KIDO's recent announcement said that the company is seeking shareholders' written opinions to approve the transaction to sell 24.03% of shares of KIDO Frozen Foods Joint Stock Company (KDF) to be carried out in 2023. KIDO said that, in order to comply with the direction of transferring 49% of KDF shares approved in the Board of Directors' resolution dated October 15, 2025, the Board of Directors submitted to shareholders for consideration and approval of the transaction to sell 24.03% of KDF shares owned by KIDO to its partner, Nuti Investment Company Limited, based on the Board of Directors' resolution dated January 17, 2023, the extraordinary information announcement dated April 28, 2023 on the announcement of the completion of the transaction to transfer 24.03% to the partner and Contract 01/2023 between KIDO and Nuti Investment Company Limited.

In addition, the Board of Directors also submitted to shareholders for consideration and approval of the cancellation of transfer contracts No. 1 and 2/2022/KDF-KDC on the transfer of 34 trademarks and the transfer of 7 trademark registration applications, and agreed to authorize and assign the Board of Directors to carry out the necessary procedures to re-establish ownership of these trademarks for KDF.

Details of 34 KDF trademarks and 7 trademark applications under the 2022 contract of KIDO.

The third content of the proposal is to request approval of the plan to transfer 49% of KDF's charter capital owned by KIDO. Thus, KIDO has decided to divest all of its remaining current capital in KDF (more than 36.3 million shares) to NutiFood Nutrition Food JSC and/or the unit designated by NutiFood. The expected value of the share transfer is 2,500 billion VND.

Previously, the dispute over ice cream product brands at KDF, specifically the Celano - Merino brands, was quite tense after KIDO sold a part of KDF's capital and NutiFood held 51% of KDF shares. KIDO then asserted its legal ownership of the brands of its subsidiaries and member companies when it transferred all brands and trademarks to the Group from 2022. This dispute was brought to court by KIDO and discussed at the extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders in early 2025.

Last October, KIDO planned to divest all its capital from KDF, however at that time, KIDO said it was looking for a partner to transfer shares.

Up to now, with the contents presented to shareholders, the policy on these disputes has been agreed by KIDO's Board of Directors. Thus, when approved by shareholders, KIDO will divest all capital from the frozen ice cream company KDF to NutiFood, along with the capital sale transaction will be the re-establishment of ownership of the brands for KDF, ending the past dispute.

With an expected transfer value of VND2,500 billion, the deal will contribute greatly to KIDO's future business results. In the first 9 months of 2025, KIDO achieved VND6,586 billion in net revenue, up 14% over the same period last year. Profit after tax reached VND126.6 billion, up 134%, mainly due to the low profit base last year.

However, this result is still quite far from KIDO's 2025 target: VND13,000 billion in net revenue and VND800 billion in pre-tax profit. And if it happens in 2025, the KDF transfer deal could be the key to turning around KIDO's situation.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/tranh-chap-thuong-hieu-kem-merino---celano-sap-di-den-hoi-ket-d443255.html