Chicago-based Hometown Food Company was formed by private equity firm Brynwood Partners in June 2018 to acquire JM Smucker’s US baking business for $375m.
The transaction includes a manufacturing facility in Hereford, Texas, and its employees.
Arrowhead Mills – founded in 1960 – makes a range of grain-based foods and ingredients, including baking mixes, breakfast cereals and flours. The brand is a leader in the US better-for-you space and has a national retail presence.
SunSpire is a producer of chocolates – including baking chocolate and chocolate bars – made from Fair Trade and organic cocoa beans. The brand’s products are also completely free of refined sugars, hydrogenated oils, trans-fats, preservatives and artificial flavors.
Transformational plan
According to Mark Schiller, CEO of Hain Celestial, the company has been focused on improving its profitability by divesting low-margin and low-growth businesses “to reduce complexity and simplify the brand portfolio.”
Earlier this year, the US food company announced the sale of its Tilda rice brand to Ebro Foods for $342m, as well as the sale of its WestSoy tofu, seitan and tempeh unit and Hain Pure Protein business.
“We believe the Arrowhead Mills and SunSpire brands will thrive under new ownership as we focus our future initiatives and investments on areas of our business that better leverage our core competencies to improve our margins, profitability and cash flow generation,” said Schiller.
Hen Hartong, CEO of Brynwood Partners, added, “Arrowhead Mills and SunSpire were pioneers in the organic, non-GMO ingredients space and we are excited to add these tremendous brands to our portfolio. This acquisition strengthens our industry position by adding improved capabilities in the better-for-you space that we plan to extend into our other categories.”
Since its inception in 1984, Brynwood Partners - which manages more than $1bn of private equity capital - has acquired over 50 consumer brands from 20 different corporate sellers.