Milling & Baking News - April 24, 2018 - 10

Business

Investment group acquiring
Hearthside Food Solutions
Continued from Page 1

officer of Hearthside. "Today, we are
delighted to be welcoming Partners
Group and Charlesbank as partners
for the next chapter of our success story and would like to thank Goldman
and Vestar for their valuable partnership over the last few years."
Chris Russell, managing director,
private equity Americas, Partners
Group, applauded Mr. Scalise's ability
to lead Hearthside's growth in food
contract manufacturing.
"We see strong potential for the company to continue on its growth path
as its business model is supported by
global transformative trends, such as
increased outsourcing, which show
no signs of flagging," Mr. Russell said.
"We look forward to working with Rich
and the rest of the Hearthside team."
Rumors that Hearthside might be on
the block surfaced in January, when a
report from Bloomberg suggested a potential sale could fetch approximately
$2.5 billion.
Goldman Sachs and Vestar acquired
Hearthside in 2014 from Wind Point
Partners for about $1.1 billion.
"Our relationship with Goldman
Sachs and Vestar was exceptional,"

Mr. Scalise said. "Their partnership enabled growth, strategic direction and
most importantly trust. We are excited
about taking those enablers to the next
level with Partners Group and Charlesbank as we look to new geographical
markets, new categories to enter, and in
continuing to make our customers first
in everything we do."
Nicole Agnew of Goldman Sachs described
Hearthside as "an exceptional food platform,"
adding the firm was glad
it was able to help scale
Hearthside into Europe and across highgrowth categories. Meanwhile, Brian
O'Connor, managing director of Vestar,
said Hearthside's growth over the past
four years "exceeded our expectations."
"Together, we targeted acquisitions
that complemented Hearthside's capabilities, expanded into Europe and entered new categories," Mr. O'Connor
said. "We are confident Hearthside
will continue to prosper under Partners Group and Charlesbank."
Hearthside was created in 2009 and
has grown over the past eight years. With
the backing of Wind Point Partners, a
Chicago-based private equity investment

I.A.O.M. recognizes Grain Craft
for zero injury performance
injury/illness rate at each facility was
zero, and the facility did not incur a
work-related fatality during 2017. The
Grain Craft mills to receive the award
include Portland, Ore.; Great Falls
and Billings, Mont.; Cleveland; and
Wichita, Kas.
"Grain Craft has placed a continued
emphasis on behavior-based safety

GRAIN CRAFT

CHATTANOOGA, TENN. - The International Association of Operative
Millers (I.A.O.M.) awarded five Grain
Craft mills with the I.A.O.M. Safety
Award for being injury-free throughout 2017 during I.A.O.M.'s annual
conference and expo.
The I.A.O.M. Safety Award recognizes those mills in which the recordable

Members of Grain Craft on hand to accept the I.A.O.M. Safety Award included, from
left: Zach Tillinghast, Portland, Ore.; Travis Devlin, Great Falls, Mont.; Jeff Schanz, Billings, Mont.; Scott Roberts, accepting on behalf of Cleveland; and Mike Ormsby, accepting on behalf of Wichita, Kas.
10 / April 24, 2018

Milling & Baking News

firm, Hearthside acquired a substantial
portion of the assets from Roskam Baking Co., based in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Then, in May 2010, Hearthside purchased Consolidated Biscuit Co., based
in McComb, Ohio, as well as the cereal
division of Golden Temple, Eugene, Ore.
Hearthside acquired Oak State Products,
a privately-held contract manufacturer
of cookies, bars and other baked foods,
in late 2016 and more recently, on Nov.
28, 2017, completed the acquisition of
Standard Functional Foods Group Inc.
(SFFGI) of Nashville, Tenn.
With the completion
of the SFFGI transaction,
Hearthside now operates 25
production facilities, including 11 that have bar production capabilities. Three of the company's
production facilities are in Europe.
Based in Boston and New York,
Charlesbank Capital Partners is a middle-market private equity investment
firm managing more than $5 billion of
capital. The firm previously has invested in Papa Murphy's, Del Taco, Aurora
Organic Dairy and Peacock Foods.
Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland,
Partners Group is a global private
markets investment management firm
with more than $74 billion in investment programs under management in
private equity, private real estate, private infrastructure and private debt. MBN
practices throughout all of our facilities,"
said Mike Ormsby, director of environmental health and safety at Grain Craft.
"During the last two years, all Grain
Craft mill employees have undergone
extensive behavior-based safety training
to establish individual ownership and
to anticipate and amend unsafe working conditions. We are proud to receive
this important recognition and look forward to more of our mills achieving a
zero-injury workplace."
Grain Craft has 15 grain storage facilities with a total licensed capacity of
13,552,000 bus, according to Sosland
Publishing Company's 2018 Grain &
Milling Annual.
Grain Craft was created by combining three independent flour milling
companies - Cereal Food Processors,
Milner Milling, Inc. and Pendleton
Flour Mills - to become the third largest U.S. flour miller. Headquartered in
Chattanooga, Grain Craft's 14 mills
span the United States. The company
mills soft, hard, and spring wheat into
various types of flour, including bakery patent, cake and pastry, pizza, tortilla, whole wheat, and high gluten. MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com
http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com
Milling & Baking News - April 24, 2018

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