Evans Food Group, a portfolio company of Wind Point Partners, has acquired Gaytan Foods, a maker of pork rind products.
Evans Food Group is a producer of branded and private label finished pork rinds and pork rind pellets. Pork rind is the skin (rind) of a pig. When fried or roasted, the pork rinds are sold as a snack food. Evans was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in Chicago with five production facilities in Chicago, IL; Arlington, TX; Portsmouth, OH; Ontario, CA; and Saltillo, Mexico (www.evansfood.com).
Sales of pork rinds are growing at more than 15% per year. The product is higher in protein than other crunchy snack foods and are a good “high-protein, low-carbohydrate” alternative. They are also a favorite snack food of the Hispanic demographic.
Wind Point Partners acquired Evans in April 2016. The firm partnered on this transaction with Jose Luis Prado, the former President of Quaker Oats North America. Earlier, he was the president and CEO of Grupo Gamesa-Quaker in Mexico and he also held senior positions in sales, finance and general management at PepsiCo in Latin America and Europe. Wind Point has considerable experience in the consumer products and food space. The purchase of Evans was the firm’s 7th platform investment in the food space over the last decade.
Gaytan Foods was founded in 1935 and has a 64,000 square foot facility near Los Angeles in City of Industry, CA (www.gaytanfoods.com).
“I am delighted to welcome Ryan Gaytan, a third-generation owner, and the entire Gaytan team into the Evans family,” said Mr. Prado. “Both companies share a passion for delighting our consumers with great products and being great partners to our customers for many decades. In this new phase, we are confident that together we will be able to accelerate growth and create value for all our stakeholders.”
“The merging of Gaytan and Evans, with the support of Wind Point, will create solid operational, distribution, and scale efficiencies that will fund our growth,” said Mr. Gaytan. “Leveraging Evans’ national brands and investment in technology with Gaytan’s expertise in the Hispanic segment will be a win-win for our customers and team members. I am excited to remain actively involved in the continuing combined businesses and I am as committed as ever to ensuring the success of all our stakeholders.”
“We are excited about the combination of Evans and Gaytan. Both companies share similar values and cultures. From a strategic perspective, the acquisition of Gaytan will enhance our presence and manufacturing capability in the important west coast market,” said Joe Lawler, a Principal with Wind Point Partners.
Wind Point invests from $30 million to $150 million in companies with revenues from $100 million to $500 million and EBITDAs of at least $10 million. Industries of interest include business services, consumer products, healthcare and industrial products. Wind Point was founded in 1984 and is based in Chicago. Last month, Wind Point held a final closing of its eighth fund, Wind Point Partners VIII, with $985 million of capital commitments. The fund exceeded its initial hard cap of $750 million and marks the largest fund closing in Wind Point’s history (www.wppartners.com).
BMO Harris Bank and Antares Capital led the financing for this transaction.
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | November 6, 2017
