Quilvest Private Equity has sold Hill & Valley Inc., a maker of sugar-free pies, to publicly-traded J&J Snack Foods.
Hill & Valley is a manufacturer of sugar-free and no sugar added pre-baked cakes, cookies, pies, muffins and other desserts that are sold to retail in-store bakeries. The company also provides private label manufacturing services for a number of retailers nationwide. Hill & Valley, led by President Doug Davidson, has annual sales of over $45 million and is headquartered in Rock Island, IL. The company was founded by George Coin in 1987 as the Rock Island Baking Company (www.Hillandvalley.net).
“The acquisition of Hill & Valley rounds out our in-store bakery offerings by expanding our capabilities and customer base, and provides us a newly constructed facility that has ample capacity for growth and a nimble production process,” said Jerry Law, J&J’s Senior Vice President.
J&J Snack Foods (NASDAQ: JJSF) is a maker of branded niche snack foods and beverages sold to foodservice and retail supermarket outlets. The company’s products include Superpretzel, Bavarian Bakery and other soft pretzels; Icee and Slush Puppie frozen 
beverages; Luigi’s, Minute Maid frozen juice bars and ices; Whole Fruit sorbet and frozen fruit bars; Mary B’s biscuits and dumplings; Daddy Ray’s fig and fruit bars; Tio Pepe’s, California Churros and Oreo Churros, Patio Burritos and other handheld sandwiches; The Funnel Cake Factory funnel cakes, and several cookie brands within Country Home Bakers. J&J Snack Foods is based in Pennsauken, NJ (www.jjsnack.com).
Quilvest Private Equity is the private equity arm of the Quilvest Group, a wealth manager and private equity investor with a presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East (www.Quilvestprivateequity.com).
BB&T Capital Markets was the financial advisor to Hill & Valley on this transaction.
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | January 13, 2017
