Platinum Equity and Butterfly Equity has agreed to acquire Rise Baking Company from Olympus Partners. Platinum Equity and Butterfly will be equal partners in the investment.
Rise Baking manufactures cookies, icings, cakes, pies, muffins, brownies, dessert bars, artisan breads, and flatbreads sold through the in-store bakery, foodservice, and convenience store channels. Company-owned brands include Table Talk, Brill, South Coast Baking, Best Maid Cookie Company, Henry & Henry, New French Bakery, Bakestone Brothers, and Karp’s.
Rise Baking, led by CEO Brian Zellmer, is headquartered in Minneapolis.
“We have built this company into one of the leading bakery platforms in North America thanks to the contributions of our incredible team over the years,” said Mr. Zellmer. “We welcome the opportunity to partner with Platinum Equity and Butterfly as we continue to grow Rise Baking Company to serve our customers as their total bakery partner.”
Rise was formed as a platform investment by Arbor Investments in 2013. It closed its first acquisition with the buy of New French Bakery and the later buys of Best Maid Cookie Company, Choice Foods, Hudson Baking Company, Pita Bread Factory, and South Coast Baking. Olympus acquired Rise from Arbor Investments in August 2018.
In August 2021, Rise added on with the buy of Brill, an Atlanta-based maker of cakes, cookies, muffins, icings, glazes and toppings that are sold to retail bakeries and foodservice operators. Brill was acquired from Baker & Baker Group, a portfolio company of Rhone Capital. In December 2023, Rise acquired two pie-making facilities from Wonder Brands, located in Kent, Washington, and Brampton, Ontario. Most recently, in June 2024, Rise acquired family-owned Table Talk, a Massachusetts-based maker of 4-inch snack pies as well as 8-inch to 10-inch dessert pies. Last year, Table Talk sold 240 million 4-inch pies and 25 million dessert pies in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Canada.
Today, through these ten acquisitions, Rise has 20 manufacturing facilities across the US and Canada, with more than 3,700 employees.
“We view Rise as an established leader with impressive scale and a strong foundation with a lot more room to grow both organically and through additional M&A,” said Platinum Equity Co-President Jacob Kotzubei. “Beyond the quality of its products, we believe the quality of Rise’s people helps set it apart. The team’s creative spirit, deep understanding of market trends, and hands-on, in-store expertise provide its customers with tremendous value. We look forward to deploying our financial and operational resources to help the company expand its reach.”
Platinum Equity invests in a range of industries, including manufacturing, distribution, transportation and logistics, equipment rental, metals services, media and entertainment, technology, and telecommunications. Beverly Hills-headquartered Platinum was formed in 1995 by Tom Gores and, over the past 28 years, has completed more than 450 acquisitions.
“We are honored to partner with Brian and the full Rise team to support their expansion by turbo-charging growth both organically and through strategic acquisitions,” said Adam Waglay, a co-founder and co-CEO of Butterfly. “As a food-focused and operations-driven investment firm, we have taken a keen interest in the attractive bakery sector, and we are excited to bring our specialized expertise and deep food network to bear to help amplify and accelerate the company’s mission to Rise above its customers’ expectations one bite at a time.”
Butterfly is an active investor in the agriculture, aquaculture, food and beverage products, food distribution and foodservice sectors. The Beverly Hills-headquartered firm was founded in 2016 and has over $4 billion of assets under management.
Olympus invests in a range of industries but has a specific interest in business services, consumer products, healthcare services, financial services, industrial services, and manufacturing. The firm was founded in 1988 and is based in Stamford, Connecticut.
Morgan Stanley & Co. and Harris Williams were the financial advisors to Rise, and Houlihan Lokey and Stifel advised Platinum Equity and Butterfly.
Bank of America Securities is leading the debt financing for the acquisition.
The buy of Rise is expected to close before the end of 2024.
© 2024 Private Equity Professional | September 20, 2024
