Taglich Private Equity and Ironwood Capital have sold American Blanching Company, a producer of peanut butter, to Post Holdings for $128 million. Taglich and Ironwood acquired American Blanching in February 2010.
American Blanching is a producer of peanut butter for national brands, private label retail and industrial markets. The company is a vertically integrated manufacturer offering blanching (removing skin from nut meat through a hot water process), cleaning, sorting, roasting and granulating for industrial and retail customers. Representative customers include Unilever, Smart Balance, Kroger, ALDI, Flowers Snacks, Flavors “R” and Peanut Butter & Co. American Blanching is based in Fitzgerald, GA (www.americanblanching.com).
“We appreciate the confidence Taglich and Ironwood Capital showed in our company. Their investment was timely and enabled us to capitalize on several opportunities,” said Jack Warden, president and CEO of American Blanching Company.
Post Holdings (NYSE: POST) manufactures, markets and distributes ready-to-eat cereals, snacks, and other nutrition products. The company was founded in 1895 and is based in St. Louis (www.postfoods.com).
Post will combine American Blanching with Golden Boy Foods, its existing peanut and other nut butter business. “We are pleased with the progress at Golden Boy and we like the prospects for private label nut butters,” said William Stiritz, Post’s Chairman and CEO. “American Blanching will nicely complement Golden Boy and expand our presence in this growing category.” On a full year basis, American Blanching is expected to contribute approximately $135 million of net sales to Post and add approximately $14 million to $16 million of Adjusted EBITDA.
“Our investment in American Blanching allowed the company to expand its facilities, develop new products and serve new markets,” said Dickson Suit, managing director, Ironwood Capital. “At the time of investment we recognized strong macro trends and a lot of growth potential. Management, with the support and resources of Taglich, did a fantastic job executing to plan.”
Taglich Private Equity makes equity investments of $3 million to $15 million in companies with revenues of $15 million to $150 million and EBITDAs of $5 million to $15 million. Sectors of interest include manufacturing, consumer products and business services. The group is the alternative investment arm of Taglich Brothers, a provider of services to microcap companies seeking to raise capital through private placements including secured notes, mezzanine financing, and preferred and common equity. Taglich Private Equity is based in New York (www.taglichpe.com).
Ironwood Capital makes mezzanine and equity investments of $5 million to $20 million in companies with revenues of $20 million to $200 million and EBITDAs of $3 million to $15 million. The firm is generally industry agnostic but has experience in recurring revenue business service models, environmental services and precision manufacturing. The firm has $500 million of capital under management and is headquartered in Avon, CT (www.ironwoodcap.com).
2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 11-14-14
