Tricor Pacific Founders Capital has acquired Keybrand Foods, a maker of branded and private label wet salads, hand-rolled products and fruit salads. Tricor made its investment in Keybrand Foods through Freshstone Brands, a newly formed company owned by Freshstone Kitchen.
Keybrand Foods produces branded and private label, deli classic and home-style wet salads, hand rolled products, fruit salads, and other prepared foods for retail, food service, and co-manufacturing customers. Company owned brand names include Keybrand, Deli Classics, Johnston’s and Sun Gem. Keybrand was founded in 1963 and is based in 100 miles west of Toronto in Kitchener, ON with additional operations in Delisle, SK (near Saskatoon) and Charlottetown, PEI (www.keybrand.com).
“We look forward to working with Tricor Founders, who bring specific food industry experience and operating resources to the table and have a long-term investment horizon,” said Mike Swan, Vice President of Keybrand.
“This acquisition is consistent with our strategy of making control investments in food businesses, with EBITDA of $3 to $10 million, across Canada and the Mid-West and Western USA,” said Richard Harris, Managing Director of Tricor Founders who will lead Keybrand as the Executive Chairman of Freshstone Brands. “We are also pleased to announce the hiring of Steven Diakowsky as President and CEO of Freshstone Brands. Steve is an experienced food industry CEO, with recent stints at Taste of Nature and Allan Candy.”
“The prepared foods and home meal replacement industry is an attractive and growing market. We hope to make further acquisitions in this space adding capabilities and expanding our footprint over the next few years,” said Derek Senft, Managing Director of Tricor Founders who led the transaction.
Tricor Founders is actively building an integrated but decentralized portfolio of food businesses. Its existing portfolio is focused on prepared foods (through Freshstone Kitchen), specialty protein (through Purewater Foods), and edible gifts and confections (through Ganache Gourmet).
Tricor Founders is led by its three managing directors – Richard Harris, Rod Senft, and Trevor Johnstone – and is based in Vancouver, BC (www.tricorfounders.com).
Ernst & Young acted as the sell-side advisor to Keybrand. Tricor Founders was advised by Bryan & Company, Collins Barrow, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Scotiabank and Roynat provided debt financing for the transaction.
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | June 14, 2017
