Private-equity-backed baked goods group MBC Companies has been sold to US-based private-equity firm Entrepreneurial Equity Partners (E2P).
Financial details were not disclosed.
San Francisco-based Encore Consumer Capital has owned the frozen baked goods group since it was formed in 2019.
MBC Companies was created from the acquisition of Murry’s in 2019 and more recently Bake Crafters in 2022.
Murry’s is a manufacturer of frozen French toast products that are sold into the private-label retail and foodservice markets. Bake Crafters manufactures and distributes breakfast and baked products, only supplying the foodservice channel.
Kate Wallman, managing director of Encore Consumer Capital, said: “This is the largest dollar return exit in Encore’s 18-year history. We are so pleased that MBC’s chairman, Ira Mendelson, selected Encore as his strategic and financial partner in 2019 for his family business. Over the course of Encore’s investment, Ira and the team at MBC drove tremendous growth.”
Mendelson described how Encore’s support had helped the business expand. “Encore’s strategic guidance and support allowed us to complete a transformational add-on acquisition that we would not have undertaken independently. Encore knows how to work with family-owned businesses as they transition under private-equity ownership and helped us recruit CEO Jeff Ahlers from their deep network of food manufacturing executives.”
Ahlers added: “I am thrilled to have been part of the growth of MBC under Encore’s ownership and am excited to lead this business in its next chapter with E2P.”
Chicago-headquartered E2P, which focuses its investments on consumer food brands, made another investment in frozen goods recently when it took a stake in Furlani Foods, a Canadian company supplying frozen garlic bread.
In 2021, E2P invested an undisclosed amount into plant-based beverage company Ya Ya Foods.
World Food Holdings, formed from the merger between Kronos Foods, a Mediterranean products supplier in the US, and local family-owned peer Grecian Delight Foods in 2020, also falls under the E2P umbrella.
