food service

SMG Holdings, a venue management company and a portfolio company of American Capital, has acquired Premier Food Services, a provider of outsourced food and beverage services.

“As a global venue management company, SMG manages a large and broad portfolio of venues with exceptional diversity across event type, end market, attendee population demographic and geography,” said Brian Graff, Senior Managing Director.  “Its acquisition of Premier provides SMG with an attractive opportunity to expand its food service offering outside of its core portfolio of arenas, stadiums and convention centers into business dining, schools and colleges, fairgrounds and off-premise catering.”

Premier Food Services is a provider of outsourced food and beverage services at entertainment venues, dining clubs, universities and businesses.  Its customers range from the State of California to higher education clients and aerospace and technology firms.  Premier’s services include dining center and restaurant management, alcoholic beverage and food concessions, meeting facility management and special events management. The company was founded in 1985 and is based in San Diego (www.premierfoodservices.com).

SMG, acquired by American Capital in June 2007, is a venue management company providing private management services to owners of public assembly facilities.  SMG provides construction and design consulting, pre-opening services, venue management, sales, marketing, event booking and programming.  SMG currently manages over 230 venues, including arenas, stadiums, convention centers, exhibition halls, science centers, trade centers, theaters and performing arts centers. SMG’s facilities include stadiums such as the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, home of the New Orleans Saints, and Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears; convention centers McCormick Place in Chicago and Moscone Center in San Francisco; and the UK based Manchester Arena, the world’s third largest arena.  SMG also offers food and beverage operations through its concessions, catering and special events division, SAVOR.  The company was founded in 1977 and is based in the Philadelphia suburb of West Conshohocken (www.smgworld.com).

“Premier is a perfect fit for our California SAVOR food business which includes the Long Beach Convention Center, The Aquarium of the Pacific, the Long Beach Grand Prix, the Moscone Center, the Ontario Convention Center and Fresno State University.  This acquisition will also provide a base of business to further expand SMG’s SAVOR brand nationally,” said Wes Westley, SMG President and CEO.

American Securities invests in businesses with $500 million to $2 billion of revenues. Investments are undertaken with conservative financial structures that typically include only equity and senior debt. The firm aims to invest $150 million to $500 million of equity capital in each portfolio company. Sectors of interest include industrial manufacturing, specialty chemicals, aerospace and defense, energy, business services, healthcare, media, restaurants, and consumer products. The firm has more than $10 billion of capital under management and is currently investing from its sixth fund. American Securities has offices in New York and Shanghai (www.american-securities.com).

2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 6-4-14

Elior, a contract food services company and a portfolio company of Charterhouse Capital Partners, has acquired TrustHouse Services, a contract food services company and a portfolio company of Gryphon Investors. This transaction closed in March 2013.

TrustHouse Services Group is a food service provider focused on the healthcare, education and corrections sectors. Divisions of TrustHouse include Aladdin Food Management (Wheeling, WV); AmeriServe Food Management (Columbia, MO); Fitz Vogt & Associates (Walpole, NH); A’viands (Minneapolis, MN); Lindley Food Services (New Haven, CT); and Valley Services (Jackson, MS). TrustHouse manages over 675 client accounts across 45 states. The company is headquartered in Charlotte, NC (www.trusthouseservices.com).

Elior provides contract catering and related services worldwide. It offers catering and services within the education, business and industry, and healthcare and seniors sectors, as well as in leisure, culture and travel sectors. The company also provides support services, including cleaning services and facilities management services. In addition, it operates concessions in the national museums sector, railway stations, and the leisure market. Elior’s concessions business comprises food services, retail facilities, and a range of related services provided on a daily basis at motorway service areas, airports, sports stadia, railway stations, and national museums. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Paris, France (www.elior.com).

Charterhouse Capital Partners invests up to €1 billion per transaction in the industrial and commercial sectors with a particular interest in service companies. Target companies are typically headquartered in Western Europe and have equity values between €400 million and €4 billion. The firm is based in London (www.charterhouse.co.uk).

CIT Group has arranged a $220 million senior secured credit facility to support the acquisition. CIT Corporate Finance served as Sole Lead Arranger and Administrative Agent for the transaction. Financing was provided by CIT Bank, the U.S. commercial bank subsidiary of CIT.

“We are pleased to continue our growth strategy for Elior as it partners with TrustHouse to create a world-class food services business. We selected CIT to lead the financing of this transaction because of their relationship with TrustHouse Services and their expertise in underwriting and syndicating senior loans in the U.S. market,” said Jamie Arnell, Partner of Charterhouse.

CIT is a bank holding company with more than $33 billion in assets. Sectors of interest include small business and middle market lending, factoring, retail finance, aerospace, equipment and rail leasing, and vendor finance. CIT was founded in 1908 and is based in New York (www.cit.com).

“This transaction demonstrates the commitment CIT has to providing comprehensive financial solutions to private equity firms as they complete acquisitions,” said Eric Toizer, Managing Director of CIT Sponsor Finance.

© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 4-24-13