8th Avenue: to acquire Riviana’s Ronzoni dry pasta brand

St. Louis / MO. (pfh) 8th Avenue Food + Provisions Inc. announced that it has agreed to acquire the Ronzoni dry pasta brand and a dry pasta manufacturing facility located in Winchester, Virginia from Riviana Foods Inc., part of Spain’s Ebro Foods S.A.. Ronzoni is a 100-year-old brand with a comprehensive portfolio across traditional and value-added pasta.

Scott McNair, Chief Executive Officer of 8th Avenue, said, «We are looking forward to welcoming the Ronzoni brand to our team, a pioneer and leader in the pasta category. With its highly on-trend, versatile product offering, state-of-the art facility, and impressive customer base, Ronzoni has a strong foundation from which to build on its leading market presence. Together with the Ronzoni team, we look forward to driving further growth and scale by delivering innovative products to all our loyal customers.»

The transaction is expected to be completed in the second calendar quarter of 2021 (8th Avenue’s third fiscal quarter), subject to customary closing conditions including the receipt of any applicable regulatory approvals. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed by 8th Avenue. 8th Avenue expects to fund the transaction with a combination of cash on hand and through borrowings under its existing credit facilities.

About 8th Avenue Food + Provisions Inc.

8th Avenue Food + Provisions is a leading, private brand-centric, consumer products holding company. It manufactures private brand food products, including nut butter, dried fruit and nut, granola and pasta, primarily to retail, foodservice and food ingredient customers. 8th Avenue Food + Provisions was formed in October 2018 through a combination of Post Holdings’ private brands businesses and is owned by Post Holdings Inc. and third parties.

Addendum

For the purpose of this transaction, the business has been valued at USD 95 million (value of 100 percent of the business, i.e. before any adjustment for working capital), according to Spain’s Ebro Foods S.A.. The Ronzoni business generated net sales of approximately USD 102 million in 2019 and USD 115.8 million in 2020. The closing of this transaction would generate an estimated net capital gain of EUR 25 million in the Consolidated Accounts of the Ebro Group.

After this divestment, the Ebro Group maintains its strong presence in the North American market through its dry and fresh pasta businesses («Garofalo», «Bertagni» and «Olivieri»), frozen products (Ebrofrost), rice and other high value products («Carolina», «Mahatma», «Minute», «Success», «Tilda », «RiceSelect» …).

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