CORE Industrial Partners has acquired J&K Ingredients, a maker of mold inhibitors used in the baking industry, from privately held Sausville Foods.
J&K’s bakery ingredients total more than 400 SKUs in 13 categories including bread and roll bases, dough conditioners, milk replacers, flavors, emulsions and stabilizers. J&K’s customers include large bakery companies, commercial bakeries, and bakery product wholesalers and distributors. The company’s products have FDA, Halal, Kosher, FSSC 22000 (Foundation for Food Safety Certification) and organic certifications.
J&K developed the bakery industry’s first natural mold inhibitor more than four decades ago. Mold inhibitors are used in the baking industry to enhance taste, texture, aroma, consistency, and shelf life of food products. Mold inhibitors can be split into two categories – synthetic and natural – and the food industry is moving increasingly towards natural mold inhibitors to allow for simpler and cleaner labels on food products.
J&K’s product lines include Bred-Mate, a natural mold inhibitor that inhibits mold growth in sliced bread; and SOR-Mate, a fruit-based natural mold inhibitor used as an alternative to chemical preservatives such as sorbic acid or potassium sorbate.
“J&K is a pioneer in the development of on-trend, clean label ingredients,” said John May, the managing partner of CORE. “The food industry continues to covert to clean label ingredients in response to consumer demand, and we believe J&K is well-positioned to benefit from this powerful tailwind given its scalable operations, broad portfolio of products and in-house ability to innovate and develop new formulations through its cutting-edge R&D lab.”
J&K can trace its roots back to 1899 when J. Sausville & Sons was founded in New York City by the father and son team of Joseph and Frank Sausville. The company moved to New Jersey in 1949 and sold its wholesale muffin business to HJ Heinz in 1988. Today, J&K operates three facilities in Paterson, New Jersey and has more than 100 employees.
“As a fourth-generation owner of a family business proudly tracing its founding back to the 19th century, I was looking for the perfect partner that could provide the resources and support to execute substantial growth opportunities while respecting our unique history, culture and values,” said Jim Sausville, president of J&K. “CORE is the ideal fit, and on behalf of all J&K employees, we’re excited to kick off this next phase of company growth.”
“Beyond anticipated industry growth from brand and retailer conversion to natural, organic and clean label ingredients, we’ve identified numerous opportunities to accelerate organic growth in the business, including rapid commercialization of recently developed new products,” said Matthew Puglisi, a partner at CORE. “We’ll work to augment these compelling organic growth initiatives with strategic acquisitions to expand the company’s customer base, product offering and end-market reach.”
Chicago-based CORE makes control investments in companies that have revenues of up to $200 million, EBITDA of up to $20 million, and enterprise values up to $150 million. Sectors of interest include a range of specialty verticals within the manufacturing and industrial technology sectors. In February 2019, the firm held a final close of CORE Industrial Partners Fund I LP with total commitments of $230 million.
© 2020 Private Equity Professional | October 27, 2020