Peacock Engineering Company announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire L&L Foods, based in Anaheim, CA. The transaction is expected to close by the end of July, subject to government regulatory clearance. Terms were not disclosed.
L&L Foods is a leading provider of high-volume, single-serve/portion-control packages of food products. Its products are primarily used in prepared salad packages and in fast-growing food-away-from-home venues, such as quick-serve-restaurants, cash & carry outlets and airlines. L&L offers unique formulations, sourcing and packaging capabilities to a number of leading food brands. The company has been led by founder John Pooley, who has extensive experience in supply chain and the food industry.
After the closing, L&L Foods will become a business unit of Peacock Engineering Company, which is based in Geneva, IL. Both companies will operate as they have in the past and will work closely to maintain their high levels of customer service as they come together.
Peacock is a leading food manufacturer and provider of packaging and supply chain management solutions to many of the top consumer food companies. Like L&L, Peacock works closely with key customers, acting as an extension of its customers’ supply chain networks and offering a valuable route to market for new product and channel innovation. Peacock is owned by Charlesbank Capital Partners, a Boston-based middle-market private equity firm.
According to Tom Sampson, CEO of Peacock Engineering Company, “This is an investment in the growth of both companies’ businesses. We’re excited about acquiring such a high-quality company as L&L Foods. L&L has shown an ability to consistently grow at a remarkable pace by virtue of their founders’ unwavering commitment to their customers.
“This acquisition will bring many benefits to our customers and employees, including a larger geographic footprint, access to faster growth channels and retail store locations, and enhanced overall packaging capabilities. All of this adds up to expanded capabilities to support our customers’ growth.”
John Pooley, CEO and founder of L&L Foods, added, “I’m proud of what we’ve built. Becoming part of Peacock, with its strong track record and focus on delighting its customers, gives me great confidence that the company we worked so hard to build will be able to provide even greater capabilities for our customers and our people. We look forward to working with a team that shares a similar focus on collaboratively meeting customer needs.”
In late 2010, Charlesbank Capital Partners invested in the development and growth of Peacock as a pure-play food manufacturer and industry-leading provider of outsourced primary packaging and comprehensive supply chain solutions to preeminent brands in North America’s food industry.
“Over the past three years, Peacock has achieved strong compound annual growth in a very competitive environment,” said Tim Palmer, managing director and chief operating officer at Charlesbank. “The Peacock leadership team is amply prepared to take on this new opportunity and we believe the acquisition will fortify Peacock’s position as a leader in this space.”
Advisors for Charlesbank and Peacock on the transaction included PricewaterhouseCoopers for financial and Goodwin Procter for legal. For L&L Foods, Houlihan Lokey served as financial advisor and Norton Rose Fulbright as legal advisor.
About Peacock Engineering
Founded by Harold Peacock in 1942, Peacock Engineering Company is a focused food manufacturer and one of the largest providers of integrated supply chain and packaging solutions to the consumer food industry. The company specializes in refrigerated, frozen, and shelf-stable primary processing and packaging for many category-leading brands. Peacock operates five facilities totaling nearly two million square feet located in the greater Chicago area. For more information, please visit www.peacockfoods.com.
About L&L Foods
L&L Foods, headquartered in Anaheim, CA, is a high-volume niche food-packaging company that specializes in portion-control packaging solutions, primarily for salad kits. The company offers formulation and sourcing capabilities through direct relationships with suppliers and focuses on both component and assembly packaging. In October 2012, CIC partnered with L&L to provide the growth capital to support further growth.
About Charlesbank Capital Partners
Based in Boston and New York, Charlesbank Capital Partners is a middle-market private equity investment firm managing more than $3 billion of capital. Charlesbank focuses on management-led buyouts and growth capital financings, generally investing $50 million to $150 million per transaction in companies with enterprise values of $100 million to $750 million. The firm seeks to partner with strong management teams to build companies with sustainable competitive advantage and excellent prospects for growth.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements including, without limitation, statements concerning the anticipated disposition of Acxiom IT and the use of proceeds generated therefrom. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. The following are factors, among others, that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements: the possibility that we may be not receive the consents and approvals required for the disposition; the possibility that the anticipated benefits from the disposition may not be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected; the possibility that certain contracts may not generate the anticipated revenue or profitability or may not be closed within the anticipated time frames; the possibility that significant customers may experience extreme, severe economic difficulty or otherwise reduce the amount of business they do with us; the possibility that we will not successfully complete customer contract requirements on time or meet the service levels specified in the contracts, which may result in contract penalties or lost revenue; the possibility that data suppliers might withdraw data from us, leading to our inability to provide certain products and services to our clients, which could lead to decreases in our operating results; the possibility that we may not be able to attract, retain or motivate qualified technical, sales and leadership associates, or that we may lose key associates; the possibility that we may be unable to quickly and seamlessly integrate a new chief executive officer and chief financial officer; the possibility that we will not be able to continue to receive credit upon satisfactory terms and conditions; the possibility that negative changes in economic conditions in general or other conditions might lead to a reduction in demand for our products and services; the possibility that there will be changes in consumer or business information industries and markets that negatively impact the company; the possibility that the historical seasonality of our business may change; the possibility that we will not be able to achieve cost reductions and avoid unanticipated costs; the possibility that the fair value of certain of our assets may not be equal to the carrying value of those assets now or in future time periods; the possibility that changes in accounting pronouncements may occur and may impact these forward-looking statements; the possibility that we may encounter difficulties when entering new markets or industries; the possibility that we could experience loss of data center capacity or interruption of telecommunication links; and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our current reports on Form 8-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and annual reports on Form 10-K, particularly the discussion under the caption “Item 1A, RISK FACTORS” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2014, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 28, 2014.
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