CenterOak Partners has sold Wetzel’s Pretzels, the second largest US franchisor and owner of quick service restaurants operating in the soft pretzel category, to MTY Franchising USA, a subsidiary of publicly traded MTY Food Group, for $207 million. CenterOak acquired Wetzel’s in 2016 from Levine Leichtman Capital Partners.
Wetzel’s menu includes fresh baked soft pretzels, Wetzel Dogs, Wetzel Bitz pretzel bites, fresh lemonade, granita, and other beverages. The company’s stores are located in shopping malls, outlet centers, theme parks, discount retail stores, train stations, and airports. Today, Pasadena, California-headquartered Wetzel’s has over 350 locations in 25 US states, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Panama.
According to industry sources, during the last twelve months, total network sales were $245 million and EBITDA was $17 million. Based on the $207 million purchase price, this results in a valuation multiple of 12.2x.
“We are pleased to see the successful culmination of our investment in Wetzel’s,” said Randall Fojtasek, CEO and co-managing partner of CenterOak. “During the investment period, we accelerated the company’s growth by adding new real estate formats, product offerings, and services to attract additional consumers to the concept. We look forward to the continued success of the Wetzel’s brand under new ownership.”
Dallas-headquartered CenterOak makes equity investments of $20 million to $150 million in companies with enterprise values of $50 million to $500 million and EBITDA of $5 million to $35 million. Sectors of interest include industrial manufacturing and distribution, business services, and consumer products and services. In April 2021, CenterOak held an oversubscribed and hard cap close of its second fund, CenterOak Equity Fund II LP, at $690 million. CenterOak’s first fund closed in 2016 at its hard cap of $420 million.
Montreal-headquartered MTY Food Group (TSX: MTY) franchises and owns quick-service, fast-casual, and casual dining restaurants in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company has more than 7,000 locations across more than 80 store brands.
North Point was the financial advisor to Wetzel’s on this transaction.
© 2022 Private Equity Professional | December 13, 2022
Pfingsten Partners has sold Quality Valve, a distributor of OEM valve replacement and repair parts, to The Stephens Group.
“Quality Valve surpassed all expectations with a can-do attitude and customer-centric approach,” said Scott Finegan, a senior managing director at Pfingsten. “We were proud to support the company in deepening its inventory and operational footprint, strengthening its management team, and entering pump accessories via the strategic acquisition of Griffco Valve.”
Chicago-based 
“We are thrilled to add Quality Valve to our family of companies,” said Grant Jones, a managing director at The Stephens Group. “Quality Valve’s differentiated competitive positioning and their broad suite of low-cost, high-consequence-to-failure products make this business a perfect fit for our specialty distribution focus. We have a high degree of confidence in CEO Jody Dunn and the entire management team and the business they have built. We are looking forward to working together to execute on our shared vision to extend the leadership of this specialty distribution platform.”
Little Rock, Arkansas-based 
Second Nature Brands, a portfolio company of CapVest Partners, has acquired Brownie Brittle from Encore Consumer Capital.
“We have ambitious plans to become a US leader in snacks and treats and the acquisition of Brownie Brittle is an exciting step on this journey, which expands our presence into baking and unlocks a new growth stream for us,” said Mr. Mehren. “It also marks our first acquisition since being acquired by our majority investor CapVest, showing how with their support we intend to grow and develop Second Nature Brands through continued investment in the brand, channel and category expansion, as well as continued focus on product quality.”
Sentinel Capital Partners has held the simultaneous final closings of Sentinel Capital Partners VII LP (Sentinel VII) at $4.3 billion and Sentinel Junior Capital II LP at $835 million giving the firm a total of $5.2 billion of new capital.
“We are delighted to finalize another successful fundraise with strong endorsements of our strategy from existing investors and select new global limited partners,” said David Lobel, a co-founder and managing partner of Sentinel. “We are incredibly pleased with the support we have received from an outstanding group of limited partners during an extremely challenging period for investors. Strong investor demand resulted in Sentinel VII securing commitments above its hard cap.”
