Harvest Partners SCF has led a $125 million recapitalization and minority investment in Roland Foods, a portfolio company of Vestar Capital Partners. Following the completion of the transaction, Vestar will remain the majority shareholder of Roland.
Roland Foods is an importer and supplier of specialty foods to foodservice distributors, specialty retailers and restaurants. The company has more than 1,500 SKUs and its product offering includes condiments and spices; vegetables; cooking wines; escargot; fruit; grains and noodles; oils and sauces; mushrooms and truffles; and a variety of other products. Roland was founded in 1934 by Bruno and Suzanne Scheidt and is based in New York with a warehouse facility south of Newark in Dayton, NJ (www.rolandfood.com). The company has been a portfolio company of Vestar since August 2013.
“Given the strong prospects ahead for our business, both organically and through acquisitions, this transaction is an opportunity to provide Roland with the capital flexibility to further our market-leading position,” said Jim Wagner, Roland’s CEO.
“The HP SCF team is a great addition to our investor group and will be excellent partners,” said Brian O’Connor, Managing Director of Vestar and co-head of its Consumer Group. “Roland has achieved extraordinary growth since 2013, and HP SCF will help to accelerate this already strong momentum.”
Harvest Partners SCF targets private equity-like returns while assuming risks more characteristic of debt investments. The group targets investments of $20 million to $75 million in companies where the business owners need equity capital but do not wish to dilute or sell their ownership. Target companies have revenues of $100 million to $750 million and operate in the business and consumer services; healthcare services; industrial and energy services; manufacturing; and distribution sectors. HP SCF is actively seeking new investment opportunities. HP SCF, founded in 2014, is headquartered in New York (www.hp-scf.com).
“We are delighted to join Vestar as an investor in Roland, and to have the opportunity to work alongside Jim and his extremely talented management team. We look forward to supporting the next phase of Roland’s growth,” said Jay Hegenbart, Senior Managing Director and Portfolio Manager of HP SCF.
Vestar specializes in management buyouts and growth capital investments. The firm targets equity investments from $50 million to $150 million in middle-market companies with enterprise values ranging from $250 million to $1 billion. Sectors of interest include consumer; diversified industries; healthcare; and financial services. Since the firm’s founding in 1988, Vestar has completed more than 78 investments in companies with a total value of more than $40 billion. Vestar has offices in New York, Boston, and Denver (www.vestarcapital.com).
Wells Fargo Securities was the financial advisor to Vestar and William Blair & Company was the financial advisor to HP SCF.
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | January 10, 2017
