TruFood Manufacturing, a portfolio company of AUA Private Equity since June 2019, has acquired Simply Natural Foods.
Simply Natural is a co-manufacturer of confection products including sugarfree, organic, and kosher functional bars (products that include natural and distinct elements to support certain health aspects), diet bars, chocolate bars, and peanut butter cups for large consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies as well as private label customers. The company, founded in 1992, has just over 200 employees and operates an SQF Level 2 certified 60,000 sq. ft. facility on Long Island in Commack, New York.
TruFood is a contract manufacturer of branded and private-label nutrition bars, protein bars, chocolate molded products, and baked goods that are sold at club, grocery, drug, convenience, and department stores worldwide. Customers of the company include consumer packaged goods companies and retailers.
TruFood was founded in 1985 as the Penhurst Candy Company by Spiro and Marge Tsudis and is today led by President Ted Schouten and CEO Pete Tsudis (the founders’ son). TruFood has a total of 350,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing facilities and is headquartered in Pittsburgh.
“This transaction represents a significant and exciting milestone for our company,” said Mr. Schouten. “Simply Natural Foods has been a leader in the nutrition bar and confectionery manufacturing industry with a solid reputation for high-quality standards, continuous innovation, excellent management, and great tasting products.”
“This acquisition represents our strong commitment and support to TruFood’s growth strategy as we add network capacity, broaden our production capabilities and expand our position in high growth categories,” said Kyce Chihi, a managing director at AUA. “We are excited to welcome the Simply Natural Foods team as we continue to grow the TruFood’s platform.”
New York City-based AUA Private Equity makes equity investments from $20 million to $75 million in companies with at least $5 million of EBITDA. Sectors of interest include consumer products and services with a focus on family-owned businesses and companies benefiting from the growth of the US Hispanic population.
Abe Brach, the president and CEO of Simply Natural Foods, will be exiting the company to pursue his other business endeavors.
Private Equity Professional | August 7, 2020
PolyVision, a portfolio company of Industrial Opportunity Partners (IOP), has acquired Marsh Industries, a manufacturer of visual display boards. IOP acquired PolyVision in February 2020 from publicly traded Steelcase.
Blackstone has agreed to acquire Ancestry from Silver Lake, GIC, Spectrum, and Permira at an enterprise value of $4.7 billion.
“We are very excited to partner with Ancestry and its management team,” said David Kestnbaum, a senior managing director at Blackstone. “We believe Ancestry has a significant runway for further growth as people of all ages and backgrounds become increasingly interested in learning more about their family histories and themselves. We look forward to investing behind further data, functionality, and product development across Ancestry’s market-leading platform to continue to provide a differentiated service.”
“Ancestry’s large network of highly engaged users, unique content, and scaled technology platform have made it a market leader,” said Sachin Bavishi, a managing director at Blackstone. “We look forward to contributing Blackstone’s resources and leveraging our strong expertise in digital content to further accelerate Ancestry’s growth.”
New York City-based 
“Ancestry is the clear leader in helping people discover, preserve, and share their family histories,” said Choo Yong Cheen, the chief investment officer of private equity at GIC. “As a long-term investor, we are proud to have contributed to Ancestry’s family history mission since 2012, and we are confident the team will continue to innovate for years to come. We appreciate the contributions of Silver Lake, Permira, and Spectrum and look forward to partnering with the Blackstone and Ancestry teams for this next phase of growth.”
River Associates Investments has acquired Yale Cordage in partnership with the company’s management team.
“Tom, Bill, and the rest of the Yale team immediately struck us as smart, ethical and hard-working,” said Mike Brookshire, a managing partner of River Associates. “We’ve found these character traits in the managers of all our best performing investments over the past 30-plus years. Yale not only has an impressive history and respected name in the industry, but also tremendous potential for growth. We know that our partnership will be collaborative and steady in preserving the Yale legacy and respecting the team while also exploring a number of exciting growth avenues.”
Chattanooga, Tennessee-based 
“I look forward to a strong, growth-oriented relationship with River for years to come. We believe their broad experience will help us take Yale to the next level for the benefit of our employees, customers, and supplier partners,” said Mr. Putnam.
