Pritzker Private Capital has acquired privately held Sugar Foods Corporation in partnership with members of the Sugar Foods management team.
Sugar Foods is a producer and distributor of branded, private label and licensed products such as crunchy toppings, croutons, ready-to-use pizza toppings and beverage ingredients.
Company owned brands include Fresh Gourmet, Mrs. Cubbison, and N’Joy. The company’s products are sold to more than 3,000 customers including grocery retailers, foodservice providers, and quick-service and casual dining restaurants.
Sugar Foods, led by President Andrea Brule and CEO Marty Wilson, was founded in New York City in 1948 by Harry Tober as a local bulk sugar distributor throughout the New York metro area. In 1969 the company helped make Sweet’ N Low one of the most recognized names in the sugar substitute market. Sugar Foods stopped distributing Sweet’ N Low in 2006 and began diversifying the business into the bakery and snack markets under the Fresh Gourmet and Mrs. Cubbison brands and shifting the company’s focus to its own line of sweeteners and creamers under the N’Joy brand.
Today, the company has more than 1,400 employees and is headquartered near Los Angeles in Westlake Village, California, and operates five facilities in the United States and Mexico. Donald Tober, a former CEO and co-owner of Sugar Foods and the son of the founder, passed away in January 2021.
“Over the course of Sugar Foods’ nearly 75-year history, we have worked tirelessly to put our customers first and provide high-quality products that consumers love,” said Ms. Brule. “Together with PPC as our partners, we will continue to build on our award-winning reputation for product innovation and customer service.”
“We sought to partner with PPC because of their track record honoring family legacies and their shared commitment to our core values,” said Mr. Wilson. “With their support, Sugar Foods will be even better positioned to pursue exciting organic and acquisition growth opportunities, while preserving our rich employee-focused culture. We are thrilled to partner with the PPC family.”
Chicago-based PPC acquires North America-based middle-market companies that have enterprise values between $200 million and $1.5 billion and EBITDA of more than $15 million. Sectors of interest include manufactured products and services. The firm targets equity investments between $100 million and $400 million, with the ability to invest up to $750 million per transaction.
“Sugar Foods is a top provider of the essential ingredients of menu items that customers are demanding,” said Chris Trick, an investment partner at PPC. “The company is led by a strong team, and we continue to be impressed by its robust capabilities and track record of successful product innovations. We look forward to partnering with the Sugar Foods team through the company’s next chapter, as they capitalize on compelling growth opportunities, pursue strategic add-on acquisitions and further cement the company’s position as a partner of choice to its customers.”
PPC, led by Tony Pritzker and the former investment and operating professionals of Pritzker Group, closed its oversubscribed third fund, PPC Fund III LP, at its hard cap of $2.7 billion in July 2021.
Evercore was the financial advisor to Sugar Foods, and Houlihan Lokey advised PPC.
© 2023 Private Equity Professional | October 11, 2023
