Halo Foods, the UK snack-bar maker, has been sold to Peak Rock Capital, the manufacturer’s second private-equity owner in four years.
The deal, struck for an undisclosed sum, sees Peak Rock, alongside Halo Foods’ management, acquire the business from Nimbus, the Dutch investment firm. Nimbus bought Halo Foods from Finnish food group Raisio in 2016.
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By GlobalDataHalo Foods is predominantly a manufacturer for brands and retailers but the Wales-based business does have a brand of its own, Skinny.
In April, the company filed accounts at the UK’s Companies House for the period from 1 January 2019 to 28 December that year. Turnover stood at GBP35.2m (US$45.5m), up 24% on a year earlier. Halo excluded turnover from two factories sold in 2018 from the result.
Halo Foods’ underlying operating profit – which stripped out “depreciation, one-off restructuring costs and asset adjustments – was GBP3.5m, compared to GBP1.5m the year before. Depreciation, which Halo said “accelerated” in 2019, meant the company made a loss after tax of GBP2.1m, against a profit of GBP1.8m a year earlier.
The business is Peak Rock’s first investment of a food or beverage business outside the US. The private-equity house has eight US businesses in the sector in its portfolio, including ice-cream maker Turkey Hill and honey supplier Sweet Harvest Foods.
“This transaction is another example of Peak Rock’s deep experience in the food and beverage segment. We will continue to seek additional platform investments within the industry across Europe and North America, as well as add-on acquisitions that we believe could benefit from our ability to drive rapid growth and improve performance,” Peak Rock CEO Anthony DiSimone said.
Peak Rock has acquired a majority stake in Halo Foods. John Tague, Halo Foods’ CEO, said: “We believe our partnership with Peak Rock will help Halo to accelerate its strong growth trajectory by drawing on their extensive experience in food and beverage and by continuing to invest in our people and capabilities.”
