High Road Capital Partners has sold portfolio company Panos brands, marking the fifth exit for the firm’s debut fund, High Road Capital Partners Fund I.
Rochelle Park, New Jersey-based PANOS is a leading manufacturer and marketer of natural and specialty food products whose portfolio of brands includes KA-ME Asian foods, Andrew & Everett hormone-free cheeses, MI-DEL gluten-free and peanut-free cookies and pie crusts, Sesmark rice- and wheat-based crackers, Amore cooking pastes and filled pastas, and Chatfield’s allergen-friendly baking products. The company was acquired by Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Company, Inc. Transaction terms have not been disclosed.
“We acquired PANOS as a spin-out of a European company and in our five years of ownership, helped build a stand-alone infrastructure that allowed PANOS to achieve significant growth,” says Bob Fitzsimmons, High Road’s Managing Partner. “PANOS’s revenues grew by over 50 per cent and EBITDA grew by over 250 per cent during the course of our ownership.”
High Road Partner Bill Connell, adds: “In partnership with CEO Steven Grossman, who joined PANOS shortly after our acquisition, and his excellent management team, we executed our value creation strategy by continually developing new products, expanding distribution capabilities, and successfully integrating and growing one add-on acquisition.”
Steven Grossman will continue as CEO of PANOS brands post-transaction. He says: “With High Road’s support, we achieved strong organic growth, developed innovative new products, and focused our efforts on the fast-growing, specialty, natural, better-for-you, ‘free from,’ healthy and organic food categories. We made investments to create a disciplined product development process that has successfully launched new, on-trend products each year and we successfully integrated Andrew & Everett. These investments have helped strengthen the PANOS brand and deepen our relationships with distributors and retailers nationwide.”
