Premium Brands acquires three U.S. manufacturers

Vancouver – Premium Brands Holdings Corporation has been on a bit of a shopping spree.

The company, which owns a range of specialty food manufacturing and differentiated food distribution businesses, announced three acquisitions at a cost of $200 million.

In a statement, the company says it now owns a 100 per cent interest in Minnesota-based Buddy’s Kitchen Inc., a 100 per cent interest in California-based Raybern Foods, and a 50 per cent interest in California-based Shaw Bakers.

Buddy’s Kitchen manufactures sandwiches and other prepared meals for various clients, but its main focus is airlines and convenience stores. The company has two production facilities in the Minneapolis area, one that is 91,000 sq. ft. and the other 62,000 sq. ft.

Raybern manufactures branded speciality sandwiches for the U.S. retail market and operates a 146,000-sq.-ft. in Mississippi. It has a line of handheld products in the U.S., and a variety of frozen and refrigerated sandwiches and wraps.

Shaw Bakers manufactures and distributes fresh and frozen artisan breads and sweet and savoury pastries. It operates a 67,600-sq.-ft. facility in the San Francisco area.

Combined the three companies has annual sales of approximately $147 million.

Premium Brands says in the release that Buddy’s and Raybern “complement its existing businesses.” Steve Sposari, president of Premium Brands’ North American Sandwich Group, says Buddy’s adds “a new line of unique and innovative products, a very flexible production platform with excess capacity and significantly improved access to the U.S. convenience store and airline segments. Raybern’s provides us with one of the leading premium sandwich brands in the U.S. and will enable us to further strengthen and expand our reach in the U.S. retail channel.”

George Paleologou, Premium Brands’ president and CEO, adds that the owners of Shaw Bakers are both “innovative, progressive and driven entrepreneurs.” The company is looking forward “to working with them to build scale around their portfolio of innovative food products and help them take advantage of a variety of exciting growth opportunities in the specialty food space.”