SAN FRANCISCO- H.I.G. Capital, LLC (“H.I.G.”), a leading global private equity investment firm with over $30 billion of equity capital under management, is pleased to announce that its portfolio company, Lipari Foods (“Lipari” or the “Company”), a leading distributor, manufacturer, and importer of perimeter-of-the-store, specialty, and branded food products, has acquired Troyer Cheese, Inc., Troyer Bros. Trucking, Ltd., and Amish Wedding Foods, Inc. (collectively, “Troyer”).
Troyer, founded in 1959, is a specialty food distributor, manufacturer, and processor located in Millersburg, Ohio. Troyer is primarily engaged in the distribution, processing, and manufacturing of premium deli, cheese, jar goods, confections, and other specialty food products, proudly serving 2,400 grocery retail customers across 48 states. Troyer offers multiple proprietary brands including Troyer meats, cheeses, and deli products, Amish Wedding Foods’ jar goods, Backroad Country candy and snacks, and Edna Lucille soaps and lotions.
Thom Lipari, President and CEO of Lipari commented, “We are excited about the addition of Troyer’s unique product offerings into our existing portfolio. Troyer is an excellent strategic fit that builds on Lipari’s heritage in deli, dairy, confectionary, and other specialty food categories. Additionally, we are eager to continue building our specialty food manufacturing capabilities and look forward to extending our geographic reach further across the Midwest.”
“We are pleased to support Lipari in its acquisition of Troyer,” added Justin Reyna, Managing Director at H.I.G. “This transaction fits squarely within the Company’s strategy of acquiring unique and complementary food manufacturing and distribution businesses in existing and adjacent markets. We are excited to partner with the Troyer team as we continue to grow the Lipari business.”
Troyer is the second add-on acquisition that Lipari has completed since H.I.G. acquired the Company in January 2019 and part of a broader M&A-oriented growth strategy.
About Troyer Cheese
Founded in 1959 and located in the heart of Ohio’s Amish Country, Troyer manufactures and distributes a full line of premium deli, cheese, meats, jar goods, confections, and other specialty food products, proudly serving 2,400 customers across 48 states. Troyer offers multiple proprietary brands including Troyer meats, cheeses, and deli products, Amish Wedding Foods’ jar goods, Backroad Country candy and snacks, and Edna Lucille soaps and lotions. Over the last 60 years, Troyer has grown to 175 employees and offers its customers a portfolio of 3,000 products.
About Lipari Foods
Jim Lipari, who began his career delivering BBQ sauce from the back of his Buick station wagon, founded Lipari Foods in 1963. Today Lipari Foods is a leading independent “perimeter-of-the-store” distributor in the Midwest and beyond, delivering a wide range of high-quality deli, bakery, dairy, specialty retail, seafood, packaging, confections, and organic food and beverage products to over 13,000 retail locations across 14 states. Over the years, Lipari Foods has also made substantial investments in its manufacturing and importing capabilities, which both support the distribution operation. Since that first employee in 1963, Lipari Foods has grown to 1,500 associates while its product offering of one BBQ sauce has grown to more than 25,000 items.
About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with over $30 billion of equity capital under management*. Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused / value-added approach:
1. H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.
2. H.I.G.’s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.
3. H.I.G.’s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices.
Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.
