Brynwood Partners has signed an agreement to sell Back to Nature Foods Company to publicly-traded B&G Foods for $162.5 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close by the end of September.
Brynwood acquired a controlling stake in Back to Nature in October 2012 through a joint venture with Mondelez International, a snack and food brands business that was spun off of Kraft Foods in 2012. In 2013, Mondelēz contributed the SnackWell’s brand to the joint venture.
B&G Foods expects that after a six-month integration period, Back to Nature will generate annual revenues of approximately $80 million and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $17 million. This will result in a purchase price multiple of approximately 9.6 times adjusted EBITDA.
Back to Nature’s products include cereal, cookies, crackers, chocolate-dipped pretzels, granola, nuts & trail mix, soup, and juices. The company’s products are widely distributed in the grocery, natural, club, mass and other channels. The Back to Nature brand was founded in 1960 and the SnackWell’s brand was launched by Nabisco in 1992 as a line of reduced-fat and fat-free cookies and crackers. Back to Nature is headquartered in Naples, FL (www.backtonaturefoods.com) (www.snackwells.com).
“We are delighted to announce the sale of Back to Nature to B&G Foods, a leading publicly-traded packaged foods company,” said Hendrik Hartong III, Chairman and CEO of Brynwood Partners. “We are very pleased with the outcome of this transaction as we achieved a terrific result for both Brynwood and Mondelēz.”
During the term of Brynwood’s ownership of Back to Nature the company expanded its sales and profitability through product innovation, expanded distribution and operational improvements. “The unique joint venture with Mondelēz showcased Brynwood’s investment and operational strengths in consumer corporate carve outs,” added Mr. Hartong. “We appreciate the confidence Mondelēz has bestowed in our firm and we enjoyed working with them as a true partner in the joint venture.”
Brynwood Partners is an operationally-focused private equity firm that makes control investments in consumer focused lower middle-market companies. The firm has $725 million of capital under management and is based in Greenwich, CT (www.brynwoodpartners.com).
“This exit reaffirms Brynwood Partners’ position as the leading lower middle market buyout firm for corporate carve outs in the consumer sector. We are grateful to Mondelēz for the support that they provided to the partnership throughout the investment,” said Ian MacTaggart, President and COO of Brynwood Partners and Chairman of Back to Nature.
B&G Foods (NYSE:BGS) manufactures, sells and distributes a portfolio of branded shelf-stable and frozen foods across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The company had revenues of approximately $1.4 billion in 2016 and is headquartered in Parsippany, NJ (www.bgfoods.com).
Houlihan Lokey (www.hl.com) was the financial advisor to Back to Nature.
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | August 22, 2017
