NEW YORK, NY - Apax Partners is selling its majority ownership stake in Advantage Sales & Marketing (ASM) to private equity firms Leonard Green & Partners (LGP) and CVC Capital Partners for more than $4 billion, according to sources close to Reuters. Since purchasing controlling stake in 2010, Apax has helped ASM achieve substantial growth organically and through strategic acquisitions.
“Apax Partners have added tremendous value to ASM over the past three-and-a-half years,” said ASM CEO Tanya Domier. “This partnership has been a textbook example of how a private equity firm and a management team can create value together through collaborating on strategy, growth, and vision, and being willing to work hard to take a good company to great! We set out with a clear vision, worked hard together, and focused on accelerating growth, and that is exactly what we accomplished.”
The sale comes at a time when private equity firms are increasingly targeting companies that are expected to benefit from a recovery in consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, according to Reuters.
ASM provides outsourced sales, marketing, and merchandising services to manufacturers, suppliers, and producers of consumer packaged goods in the U.S. The company serves groceries, drugstores, convenience stores, consumer electronics outlets, and sporting goods shops, according to Reuters. The company expects to achieve $1.6 billion in revenue in 2014.
“ASM is an exceptional company with an incredible track record, strong brand equity, and tremendous opportunities for growth,” said Jonathan Sokoloff, Managing Partner at LGP. “We are excited to partner with Tanya and the rest of ASM’s talented management team and look forward to supporting the next phase of the company’s growth.”
Christopher Stadler, Managing Partner at CVC, stated, “ASM has earned an exceptionally loyal and growing base of clients by continually finding new ways to help them win in the marketplace. We are delighted to have the rare opportunity to back a team that has accomplished so much, yet has many pathways to sustain significant future growth.”
Both LGC and CVC have worked together before to jointly acquire BJ’s Wholesale Club in 2011 for $2.8 billion.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, and is expected to close during the third quarter of 2014.
LEAMINGTON, ON - R.E.A.C.H. International kicked off its 8th annual Greenhouse Competitions on June 13-14, crowning some of the industry’s Hottest Tomatoes, Coolest Cucumbers, and Perfect Peppers. Greenhouse industry growers, marketers, and suppliers from as far away as British Columbia entered 144 entries into the competitions, a new record. The unique competitions were presented in part this year by Red Sun Farms.
Westmoreland/TopLine Farms took home two top honors at the competition for its Mini Seedless Cucumbers – People’s Choice and Kid’s Choice for Coolest Cucumber.
“This is a great achievement and a testament to our growers,” said Jimmy Coppola, Account Manager/Marketing at Westmoreland Sales. “Being the largest mini seedless cucumber growers in North America, it is nice to be recognized in such a manner to win two awards for our mini seedless cucumbers. What is even better is that the two awards are People’s Choice and Kid’s Choice… The people (and kids for that matter) have spoken… TopLine Farms Mini Seedless Cucumbers are TOPS!”
Mucci Farms captured four of the top awards for its Rustico™ sweet long peppers (Best Specialty Long Pepper), Terreno™ naturally brown tomatoes (Best Beefsteak Tomato), Vero™ premium on the vine tomatoes (Best Cluster Tomato), and Sapori™ sweet cocktail tomatoes (Best Cocktail Tomato).
“Mucci Farms is proud to be recognized amongst many local growers,” said Emily Murracas, Marketing Coordinator at Mucci International Marketing. Our recent launch of the NEW MIDI Sized Cluster has proven to be most well received by our retailers and consumers alike. It comes as no surprise that we received top honors naming our Vero™ premium on the vine tomatoes Best Cluster Tomato. Our Sapori™ sweet cocktail tomatoes continue to be a favorite among tomato lovers, holding true to their name (‘flavor’ in Italian), capturing Best Cocktail Tomato.”
Orangeline Farms won two first place awards in the “Perfect Pepper” competition for its Zing! Orange (Best Specialty Mini Pepper) and Zing! Chili (Best Specialty Hot Pepper).
“These awards underscore our position as a premium grower,” said Jordan Kniaziew, President of Orangeline Farms Sales. “We like that both awards are in the ‘specialty’ category – they represent everything that we do and what we’re all about as a grower of exciting consumer friendly foods.”
Mastronardi Produce/SUNSET® won six awards for its Red Bell Pepper (People’s Choice), Chocolate Pepper (Best Specialty Bell Pepper), English Cucumber (Best English Seedless), “Zima” (Best Overall Tomato and Best Specialty Tomato), and “Romano” (Best Roma Tomato). For more on this story, click here!
Nature Fresh Farms received two awards for its Orange Bell Pepper, Best Overall Pepper and Best Orange Bell Pepper. For more on this story, click here!
Below is a list of all of the 2014 winners…
Perfect Pepper Competition:
Best Overall Pepper - Nature Fresh Farms – Orange Bell Pepper – Entry #13
People’s Choice - Mastronardi Produce /SUNSET® - Red Bell Pepper – Entry # 46
Kids’ Choice - Pure Hothouse Foods – Orange Bell Pepper – Entry #106
Best Red Bell Pepper - Amco Produce – Entry # 2
Best Yellow Bell Pepper - Red Sun Farms – Entry # 4
Best Orange Bell Pepper - Nature Fresh Farms – Entry #13
Best Specialty Bell Pepper - Mastronardi Produce /SUNSET® - “Chocolate Pepper” – Entry # 31
Best Specialty Mini Pepper - Orangeline Farms – “Zing! Orange” – Entry #102
Best Specialty Long Pepper - Mucci International / Mucci Pac –Entry # 12
Best Specialty Hot Pepper - Orangeline Farms – “Zing! Chili” – Entry # 71
Coolest Cucumber Competition:
Best Overall Cucumber - Pure Hothouse Foods – Mini Cucumber –Entry # 17
People’s Choice - Westmoreland/Topline Produce – Mini Cucumber – Entry # 75
Kids’ Choice - Westmoreland/Topline Produce – Mini Cucumber – Entry # 75
Best English Seedless - Mastronardi Produce /SUNSET® – Entry # 7
Best Mini Seedless - Pure Hothouse Foods –Entry # 17
Hottest Tomato Competition:
Best Overall Tomato - Mastronardi Produce /SUNSET® - “Zima” Specialty – Entry # 100
People’s Choice - Lakeside Produce – “Solle” Bite Size Orange – Entry # 24
Kids’ Choice - Double Diamond Acres – “Pink Mambo” Bite Size – Entry #59
Best Beefsteak Tomato - Mucci International / Mucci Pac – “Terreno” - Entry # 27
Best Roma Tomato - Mastronardi Produce /SUNSET® – “Romano” - Entry # 101
Best Cluster Tomato - Mucci International / Mucci Pac –Entry # 94
Best Cocktail Tomato - Mucci International / Mucci Pac - Entry # 107
Best Bite-Size Tomato - Del Fresco Produce - “Orange Bite Size”– Entry # 129
Best Specialty Tomato - Mastronardi Produce /SUNSET® - “Zima” – Entry # 100
Congratulations to all the winners!
LOS ALAMITOS, CA – Frieda’s Specialty Produce did something extra to support the 2nd annual Southland Credit Union Sugar Beet Festival in its hometown of Los Alamitos, CA. Aside from the company’s usual booth space featuring its specialty fruits and vegetables, Frieda’s also sponsored a new edible obstacle on the Sugartown Challenge 5K-ish Fun Run.
“We took our ‘Eat One Fruit A Day That Scares You’ message to a different level and made our obstacle an edible one,” said Karen Caplan, President and CEO of Frieda’s. “You have to eat a piece of scary fruit before you continue on your race! And our scary fruit of choice for the challenge was Starfruit.”
The station was managed by Jackie Caplan Wiggins, Vice President and COO of Frieda’s, who made sure the runners took at least one bite.
Frieda’s booth also featured “The Greatest Exotic Fruit & Vegetable Petting Zoo on Earth,” where everyone could learn about and get their hands on specialty items like Rambutan, Color Cauliflower, Purple Snow Peas and many more, according to a press release.
“There were about 300 participants in the challenge, and most came back to our booth after they completed the challenge to ask us about the fruit they just ate,” said Wiggins. “About half of the participants were children and teens, and they were very interested to check out our fruit and vegetable ‘petting zoo’ and see what other ‘weird’ things we had available.”
The Southland Credit Union Sugar Beet Festival is a celebration of Los Alamitos’ founding and ties to sugar beet farming and production.
WENATCHEE, WA and SHANGHAI, CHINA – Stemilt Growers of Wenatchee, WA have joined Lantao of Shanghai, China to be the first to market 2014 crop year Bing Cherries from Washington State into mainland China.
Mike Taylor, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Stemilt, is confident that this year’s Washington State Cherry crop can meet the demand. “Growing conditions have lined up perfectly for us,” said Taylor. “Because the conditions are so favorable, we are shipping heavier in June than normally, and we will fill the demand that we were unable to fill from California. The quality and size from Washington will meet the premium fruit requirements that the Chinese market demands.”
“Although Stemilt had the best California cherries in the Chinese market, the overall quality and volume from California this year has been inconsistent,” said John Wang, CEO of Lantao. “The poorer quality cherries brought the whole market down and now the market is really ready to step in and buy some better quality fruit. Being first to market will allow us fill that demand quickly.”
Dave Martin, Export Sales Director and Bill Young, Export Account Manager for Stemilt Growers sees China as its most important cherry export market, according to a press release. “We appreciate working with Lantao because they seem to grasp our ‘philosophy’ when it comes to openness, trust, honesty, commitment and the belief in the quality of our fruit,” said Martin.
Lantao is one of the largest importers of imported fruit into China with distribution centers in 7 Chinese cities.
BERKELEY, CA - Could discount retailer Grocery Outlet be the next company betting on an acquisition deal? Sources close to Reuters suggest that Grocery Outlet is exploring a sale that is expected to value the company at more than $1 billion.
People familiar with the matter indicate that Berkshire Partners LLC, Grocery Outlet’s private-equity owner, has hired Barclays and Goldman Sachs to run a sales process for the supermarket chain, according to Reuters. Spokespersons for Grocery Outlet and Goldman Sachs did not respond to requests for comment. Both Barclays and Berkshire Partners have declined to comment as well. No other information regarding the potential sale is available at this time.
Reuters also reports that Grocery Outlet has about $100 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization, and could sell for more than 10 times that figure.
Grocery Outlet offers a full line of grocery items, including fresh produce, frozen, deli and refrigerated, fresh meat, general merchandise, health and beauty, and beer and wine. There are currently more than 200 independently operated Grocery Outlet stores in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we keep an eye out for any potential buyers.
WATSONVILLE, CA - It’s great to have a job you’re truly proud of. That’s why California Giant Berry Farms is taking you on a journey to its fields in Watsonville, California to get an inside look into the company’s operation.
The company tends to its blueberries each and every morning. The berries are hand harvested, and then carefully sorted for packaging and shipping to a store near you for your family to enjoy all year-round.
Check out the quick video above from the company to see what makes California Giant berries so special!
ANTIGO, WI - Back in 1995, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and NASA partnered to help tubers become the first vegetable grown in space.
Creating these “Quantum Tubers” involved “combining an agricultural technique from China with controlled environment technologies originally developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison for plant growth in space,” NASA says. American Ag-Tec International, Ltd., from Delavan, WI, then produced the tubers, according to a press release.
Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia tested the seed potato production in its Astroculture plant growth facility. “American Ag-Tec International’s development of Quantum Tubers resulted from a NASA-sponsored Commercial Space Center located at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,” says NASA.
While speaking about this milestone, Duane Maatz, Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association Executive Director, said that it “really puts Wisconsin on the map and shows the technological advances that have and continue to come out of our state.”
Space centers like this have allowed other companies to create products from space-based research.
NIXA, MO - Market Fresh has hired Alison Bos to its corporate staff as Marketing Manager.
“I am very excited to be a part of the Market Fresh team,” Bos said. “It is a very exciting time for the company, and I am ready to utilize my skills to continue building the already successful marketing program.”
Bos will be responsible for overseeing the marketing and promotion efforts of the company, developing and maintaining good rapport with the client base and supporting ongoing implementation of Market Fresh’s strategic marketing plan, according to a press release.
Bos graduated from Missouri State University with her master’s degree in agricultural communications. During college, she held internships with Midwest Dairy Association and the current Missouri senator, Roy Blunt.
"With Alison’s agriculture background, combined with her experience and education in the areas of marketing and promotion, she proves to be a great fit for this position,” said Market Fresh CEO and Owner, Steve Phipps.
Congratulations, Alison!
CHICAGO, IL - United Fresh 2014 took to the Chicago stage this year with some of my fresh produce favorites and a few new characters that are continuing to catch our AndNowUKnow eye. Kicking off June 11th, the fruit and vegetable expo welcomed a 15% growth in exhibitors over last year and a host of dynamic fresh product innovations. Here are some highlights from this year’s event…
For those who haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing a greenhouse first hand, you are missing out. I have had the pleasure of writing about these amazing systems for nearly three years now but have yet to set foot inside the space of their technological mastery. Thank you, Nature Fresh. The company brought attendees face to face with the greenhouse experience in all of its beauty and awe this past United Fresh. The amount of precision and care that goes into the daily upkeep and growing of these greenhouse vegetables is truly amazing. Nature Fresh
Tiffany Gate Foods FreshCooked line offered attendees prepared, hard to cook vegetables, grains and beans to spice up menu items. The lineup offers perfectly cooked and ready to use products on salads, in soups, as sides or by themselves. Offerings include quinoa, beets, yams and chickpeas… new ways to add versatility to traditional dishes. Tiffany Gate
As specialty varieties are continuing to catch fire in the citrus category, Sunkist presented Zebra™ (pink variegated) lemons. The fruit is pink on the inside, with a yellow and green striped rind. Zebra lemons are slightly less acidic than conventional lemons and make for an visually stimulating alternative that is also ideal for garnishing. Sunkist currently has limited supplies of Zebra lemons, but with more growers planting the variety, supply is expected to grow in the coming years. Sunkist
Always on top of its snacking game, Pure Flavor highlighted its Snacking Series in the company’s new proprietary, “all-in-one” oval packaging. The line includes Juno® Bites, Sangria Medley, Azuca cherry tomatoes and the new Bumbles yellow snacking tomatoes along with the new “3” combo pack. The company is tapping into new and versatile ways for stacking and displaying for unique retail opportunities as well. Pure Flavor
Ready Pac also debuted its new line of six Bistro® Bowl™ Wrap Kits, that include Garlic and Herb Caesar, Thai Peanut Crunch (my favorite), and Turkey Avocado Ranch. The new line also accompanied Ready Pac® Ready Snax™ product, launched earlier this year, is a contender in the 2014 United Fresh New Product Awards in the Best New Packaging category. The fresh wraps pack an amazing amount of flavor and are easy to construct. I have even done it while driving (not recommended). Ready Pac
Green Giant also fed famished attendees with 8 new all-natural hummus flavors including Roasted Pine Nut Hummus with Pine Nut and Sundried Tomato Topping Roasted Red Pepper Hummus with Red Pepper Coulis Topping. Other items to debut in the line were Roasted Garlic Hummus with Roasted Garlic Topping, Artichoke Spinach Hummus with Roasted Red Pepper and Spinach Topping, Garden Vegetable Hummus with Roasted Vegetable Topping, Mediterranean Hummus with Tapenade Topping, and Sundried Tomato & Basil Hummus with Onion and Balsamic Vinegar Topping. Needless to say, they were a regular stop on my route. Green Giant
If you missed the IFCO booth cooking demo and book signing, you’ll have to make sure and mark you calendar for the next show because, this 14-year old can cook. Kid Chef Eliana de Las Casas and IFCO Youth Produce Ambassador took to the stage and the camera to introduce the simple, easy and fun ways that kids can prepare fresh produce and create tasty memorable dishes. With IFCO, Eliana hopes to extend the reach of fresh produce consumption to a younger demographic through her constant outreach and education. Eliana’s first cookbook, Eliana Cooks! Recipes for Creative Kids was released in October 2010. Her second cookbook, a full-color, hard cover book, Cool Kids Cook: Louisiana, the first in a series, debuted in Spring 2013 and received a Parents’ Choice Approved award. She has been named one of the “Top 10 Most Famous Kid Critics and Cooks” in the world by The Daily Meal, and has a global weekly radio show called “Cool Kids Cook” on the VoiceAmerica Kids network. IFCO
To check out our previous article on United Fresh Award winners and highlights, click here!
Thanks for a great show United Fresh, see you in Chicago again next year.
PLEASANTON, CA - Safeway has reached a preliminary settlement on a class action lawsuit regarding supposed violated shareholder rights relating to the proposed merger with Albertsons. Subsequently, the company has accelerated the expiration date of the stockholder rights plan to June 19, 2014, three months ahead of the original expiration date. The settlement is still subject to the approval of the Delaware Chancery Court.
The memorandum of understanding provides for, among other things, an agreement by Safeway to terminate Safeway’s stockholder rights plan, commonly referred to as a “poison pill,” effective June 19, 2014; and certain changes to the proxy statement filed in connection with the proposed merger, which changes will be captured in the definitive proxy statement that Safeway intends to file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a press release.
Earlier this year, a shareholder filed a lawsuit in attempt to halt the Safeway-Albertsons merger. The plaintiff alleged that the defendants “filed a materially false and misleading preliminary proxy statement” that omitted and/or misrepresented information that would affect Safeway shareholders’ ability to approve or disapprove the deal. For more on this story, check out the link below.
Safeway and Albertsons Sued Over Shareholder Rights Violations
The preliminary pact also states that the deadline to sell Safeway’s equity interests in Mexico-based food and general merchandise retailer, Casa Ley, has been shortened from four years to three years. If these interests weren’t sold by the deadline, the contingent value rights holders would be entitled to receive fair market value of the unsold value, according to Wall Street Journal. Previous terms state that the holders wouldn’t be entitled to receive any value linked to unsold assets.
Safeway and the Board of Directors of Safeway contend that the plaintiff’s claims are entirely without merit, and in the event the settlement does not resolve them, intend to vigorously defend these actions.
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we keep an eye on this developing story.