Private-equity firm Brynwood Partners has struck a deal to buy the Marie’s salad dressings brand and the Dean’s dip business from US manufacturer Ventura Foods.
The transaction includes a factory in Thornton, Illinois where the products are manufactured. It employs more than 80 staff.
Financial terms have not been disclosed.
Brynwood has set up West Madison Foods, a new vehicle to own and run the assets. West Madison Foods will be headquartered in Chicago.
The company plans to retain all employees at the site in Thornton. A “small group of employees dedicated to the Marie’s and Dean’s brands” from Ventura Foods may also move to the new West Madison business.
Henk Hartong III, the CEO of Brynwood Partners, described Marie’s and Dean’s as “extraordinary brands” and said the private-equity firm and its new vehicle would “lead these brands into their next phase of growth and expansion”, including through innovation.
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By GlobalDataSalad dressings, dips and spreads are sold under the Marie’s brand. The Dean’s brand focuses on dips and spreads.
West Madison Foods increases the Brynwood manufacturing network to 17 facilities. The private-equity firm oversees around 4,700 employees and generates more than $2.6bn in annual sales.
In March, another Brynwood vehicle, the US-based Great Kitchens Food Co., bought the Uno Foods pizza business from fellow private-equity firm Newport Global Advisors.
Great Kitchens Food Co. was set up by private-equity firm Brynwood in 2020 when it acquired the North American pizza business of Swiss bakery firm Aryzta.
Uno Foods, which sat under the umbrella of US pizza chain Uno Restaurant Holdings Corporation, supplies frozen and chilled pizzas, calzones, entrées and appetisers to retail and foodservice customers.
The Brynwood portfolio also includes Buitoni Food Co. and Hometown Food Co. In January, Hometown Food Co. snapped up pancake and waffle mix brand Birch Benders from fellow US food group Sovos Brands.
