Palladium Equity Partners has acquired Spice World, a supplier of garlic and other spices under the Spice World brand name. Palladium partnered with the Spice World management team on this transaction.
Spice World offers a wide portfolio of fresh, semi-processed and processed garlic in a variety of formats, including fresh, peeled, and minced. The company also sells other spice products including ginger and shallots. Spice World’s products are sold in the US to more than 200 customers in all 50 states including grocery chains, club stores, and distributors. The company considers itself to be the largest supplier of garlic to America’s supermarkets. Spice World has multiple production facilities in California and is headquartered in Orlando (www.spiceworldinc.com).
Spice World was founded in 1949 by Andy Caneza and has been led by multiple generations of the Caneza family. Today, the company is led by CEO Gary Caneza and Vice President Drew Caneza. “We view the partnership with Palladium as a great opportunity to continue doing what we have enjoyed in our nearly 70 years of operations – serving our customers,” said Gary Caneza. “Our family is excited to work alongside Palladium to achieve our growth plan while maintaining our core values.”
Palladium’s value creation strategy for Spice World includes new product development, expansion into new channels, and add-on acquisitions in the spices category. “We look forward to partnering with Gary, Drew and the entire Caneza family to continue the legacy that has made Spice World a success since its founding,” said Adam Shebitz, a Managing Director of Palladium. “This investment is consistent with our strategy of partnering with founder and family-run businesses to support their growth objectives.”
Palladium invests from $50 million to $150 million of equity in companies that have $10 million to $75 million of EBITDA. Sectors of interest include food and consumer, services, industrials, and healthcare. Palladium has a focus on companies that operate in the US Hispanic market. Since its founding in 1997, Palladium has invested over $1.9 billion of capital in more than 30 platform investments and completed over 100 add-on acquisitions. The firm is based in New York (www.palladiumequity.com).
Palladium’s current and past investments in the food industry include Kar’s Nuts, a snack nut and trail mix product company; Del Real Foods, a Hispanic refrigerated foods company; Teasdale Foods, a producer of bean and hominy products; Sahale Snacks, a manufacturer and marketer of branded nut and fruit snacks; Wise Foods, a manufacturer and marketer of salty snacks; Castro Cheese, a manufacturer and distributor of Hispanic cheeses and other dairy products; and Taco Bueno Restaurants, a Tex-Mex restaurant chain.
Deloitte Corporate Finance was the financial advisor to Spice World and Moore & Van Allen provided legal services. Piper Jaffray was the financial advisor to Palladium with both Kirkland & Ellis and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett providing legal services.
© 2018 Private Equity Professional | July 11, 2018
