Castanea Partners has made an investment in Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, a retailer and wholesaler of branded artisanal ice creams. Castanea becomes the sole outside investor in the company alongside founder Jeni Britton Bauer; her husband, Charly Bauer; her brother-in-law, Tom Bauer; and friend and company CEO John Lowe.
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams is a multi-channel retailer of ice creams with 23 company-owned stores, an e-commerce presence, and distribution through the large retail grocery channel. The company only uses whole ingredients and dairy from grass-pastured cows rather than synthetic flavorings and commodity ice cream mix. Jeni’s is a certified B Corporation (B Corps are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency). The company was founded in 2002 by Ms. Britton Bauer and is headquartered in Columbus (www.jenis.com).
“Jeni’s created the artisan category in ice cream—and clearly leads it,” said Steve Berg, Managing Partner at Castanea. “They have a great team, strong leadership, and amazing product. They’ve built their business as a community and are blazing a path for the next generation of better businesses and the good food movement. We think Jeni’s is the next great American ice cream company and look forward to supporting their growth.”
Castanea Partners invests from $15 million to $150 million in companies that operate in the consumer brands, marketing services, and information services sectors. Castanea participates in leveraged buyouts, growth and acquisition equity investments, and operationally challenging situations. The firm is currently investing from its fourth fund, a $600 million fund that targets companies with enterprise values up to $250 million. Castanea is headquartered near Boston in Newton, MA (www.castaneapartners.com).
“There are a lot of private equity firms. We chose veterans who have proven to be great collaborators and great people,” said Mr. Lowe, who added that Jeni’s and Castanea have been in discussions for more than two and a half years. “They’ve proven they understand who we are as a company and bring a wide range of expertise from which we will benefit. We are very excited they are joining us on this journey.”
“I have a vision for what ice cream can be,” said Ms. Britton Bauer, “and we aren’t there yet. It’s a vision I could only begin to understand after 20 years of making ice cream and talking with customers over the counter. I’m not talking about creating new flavors but about improving the quality of ice cream—body and texture—in ways that haven’t been done before. The hardest thing for an ice cream maker to do is to truly innovate in this space. Our new partnership with Castanea will allow us to do that.”
North Point Advisors (www.nptadvisors.com) was the financial advisor to Jeni’s and Financo (www.financo.com) served as the financial advisor to Castanea.
© 2016 Private Equity Professional • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 3-30-16
