Faribault Foods, Inc.’s Beverage Division Has Been Acquired by Harvest Hill Beverage Company

HOUSTON, November 3, 2016 – GulfStar Group (“GulfStar”) is pleased to announce the acquisition of Faribault Foods, Inc.’s (“Faribault” or “The Company”) beverage division by Harvest Hill Beverage Company (“Harvest Hill”), a majority-owned portfolio company of Brynwood Partners VII L.P (“Brynwood Partners”). GulfStar served as the exclusive financial advisor to Faribault throughout the transaction, which closed on October 31, 2016.

Faribault’s beverage division is comprised of a state-of-the-art, SQF Level III-certified manufacturing plant in Elk River, MN, approximately 40 miles northwest of Minneapolis. Constructed in 2001, the plant serves as the leading private label supplier and contract manufacturer of pouch products to leading beverage brands. Its customer base includes Sunny Delight, Juicy Juice and Back to Nature, among others, which sell to a blue-chip group of grocery retailers, wholesalers and supercenters.

“We are very pleased with the outcome of this Transaction and delighted that the beverage division will become a key component of Harvest Hill’s impressive beverage manufacturing platform. This is a bittersweet transaction for Faribault as the beverage division is a very high quality operation with modern, efficient assets and a truly exceptional group of dedicated employees. With that said, Faribault is now able to focus 100% of its efforts and investment in our core food business, which continues to experience strong growth and numerous opportunities for distribution expansion and the introduction of new products and brands,” said Albert Hoflack, CEO of Faribault Foods, Inc.

Founded in 1984 and based in Greenwich, CT, Brynwood Partners is an operationally-focused private equity firm that makes control investments in North American-based lower middle market companies in the consumer sector. Harvest Hill, based in Stamford, CT, was formed in June 2014 by Brynwood Partners to acquire the iconic Juicy Juice brand from Nestlé USA, Inc. In March 2015, Harvest Hill acquired American Beverage Corporation from Wessanen, a publicly-traded food and beverage company based in Holland. With the ABC acquisition, Harvest Hill added the Hug juice brand and Daily’s Cocktails brand. The company’s brands are distributed to a blue-chip customer base that includes leading grocery retailers, wholesalers, supercenters and foodservice distributors. Additionally, Daily’s products are sold through foodservice distributors to bars and restaurants.

“We’ve had the privilege of working with the team at Faribault Foods for quite some time, and are honored to have advised on this strategically significant transaction. This deal enables Faribault to concentrate its strategy around its core business and more aggressively pursue market growth initiatives and significant capital projects. We would like to congratulate the talented Management Team at Faribault for seamlessly delivering a strong asset to the market, and also congratulate the very knowledgeable Brynwood and Harvest Hill teams on the acquisition of a business that will undoubtedly have an immediate and positive impact on their leading domestic manufacturing platform,” said Scott Winship, Managing Director at GulfStar Group.

The GulfStar team consisted of Managing Director Scott Winship, Vice President Ben Stanton and Analyst Sahil Raj.

About GulfStar Group
GulfStar is a leading middle market investment bank headquartered in Houston. GulfStar specializes in providing merger and acquisition advisory services, institutional private placements of equity and debt, and general corporate finance advisory services to companies with revenues or enterprise values generally ranging from $25 million to $350 million. Since its formation in 1990, GulfStar has completed more than 650 transactions in 32 states and 15 foreign countries across a variety of industries.