pcJ News Briefs – Premium Brands Holdings Corporation (TSX: PBH), a portfolio company of family office Pender West Capital Partners Inc., has acquired Orillia, Ontario based Leadbetter Foods Inc. (Leadbetters), one of Ontario’s leading manufacturers of specialty bacon, fresh and frozen burgers and portion-cut steaks. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Pender West Capital Partners Inc., through Pender West Investors Inc. , owns 10.9% of Premium Brands Holdings outstanding shares. Bruce Hodge, Managing Director of Pender West Capital Partners, serves as a director on Premium Brands 6-member board.
photo credit: Leadbetters
News Release
PREMIUM BRANDS HOLDINGS CORPORATION ANNOUNCES THE ACQUISITION OF ONTARIO BASED LEADBETTER FOODS
VANCOUVER, B.C., September 19, 2017. Premium Brands Holdings Corporation (TSX: PBH), a leading producer, marketer and distributor of branded specialty food products, announced today that it has acquired 100% of the shares of Ontario based Leadbetter Foods Inc. Leadbetter has annual sales of approximately $55 million and is one of Ontario’s leading manufacturers of specialty bacon, fresh and frozen burgers and portion-cut steaks. It operates two production facilities, including a modern 47,000 square foot custom designed bacon operation built in 2012, both of which are located in Orillia, Ontario.
“This transaction is the next step towards our objective of building a leading specialty protein platform in Ontario. Not only does Leadbetter perfectly complement our Ontario based Belmont Meats’ burger business but it will also help with the launch of our Centennial business’ Ontario operations when Centennial opens its new 105,000 square foot custom cutting and distribution facility in the Toronto region at the end of this year,” said Mr. Paleologou.
“We are very excited to be joining the Premium Brands family,” said Mr. Phil Leadbetter, President and CEO of Leadbetter Foods Inc. “We have been doing business with Premium Brands for many years and know, like and respect its unique culture and core values.
“Looking forward, I have no doubt that we will be able to take our business to the next level of its development by leveraging the many advantages that Premium Brands has to offer, including access to capital, marketing resources and a variety of new internal and external sales opportunities,” added Mr. Leadbetter.
The transaction will be funded through Premium Brands’ existing bank facilities and is expected to be immediately accretive to its annual earnings per share and free cash flow per share.
ABOUT PREMIUM BRANDS
Premium Brands owns a broad range of leading specialty food manufacturing and differentiated food distribution businesses with operations in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Nevada, Ohio, Arizona and Washington State. The Company services a diverse base of customers located across North America and its family of brands and businesses include Grimm’s, Harvest, McSweeney’s, Piller’s, Freybe, SJ Fine Foods, Expresco, Belmont Meats, Leadbetter Foods, Hempler’s, Isernio’s, Fletcher’s U.S., Direct Plus, Audrey’s, SK Food Group, OvenPride, Bread Garden Go, Hygaard, Quality Fast Foods, Deli Chef, Creekside Bakehouse, Stuyver’s Bakestudio, Island City Baking, Partners Crackers, Conte Foods, Larosa Foods, Gourmet Chef, Duso’s, Centennial Foodservice, B&C Food Distributors, Shahir, Wescadia, Harlan Fairbanks, Maximum Seafood, Ocean Miracle, Hub City Fisheries, Diana’s Seafood, C&C Packing, Premier Meats and Interprovincial Meat Sales.
For further information, please contact George Paleologou, President and CEO or Will Kalutycz, CFO
at (604) 656-3100.
www.premiumbrandsholdings.com