Hain Celestial acquires Rudi’s Organic Bakery in US

Natural and organic food products producer Hain Celestial has acquired Rudi’s Organic Bakery, a leading organic and gluten-free company in the US, for $61.3m.

Rudi’s, a portfolio company of Charterhouse Equity Partners, has facilities in Boulder, Colorado.

The company, through its Organic Bakery and Gluten-Free Bakery brands, offers around 60 products in the US and Canada.

Its product range includes USDA-certified organic breads, buns, bagels, tortillas, wraps and soft pretzels, GFCO-certified natural breads, buns, pizza crusts, tortillas, snack bars and stuffing.

Rudi’s generated around $60m in net sales in calendar year 2013, and is expected to be accretive to Hain Celestial’s earnings in fiscal year 2015.

The purchase price included cash and common shares of Hain Celestial.

Hain Celestial founder, president and CEO Irwin Simon said the company plans to build upon Rudi’s leadership position, and sees the opportunity to introduce Rudi’s into new categories.

"We have a proven ability to expand great brands and products into various channels of distribution including the conventional, mass and club channels where we see significant opportunities for increased distribution."

"We expect to deliver significant synergies through top line sales and bottom line cost efficiencies by effectively leveraging the platform of Hain Celestial US, as we have successfully demonstrated with previous acquisitions," Simon added.

Hain Celestial, a leading organic and natural products company in North America and Europe, produces brands such as Celestial Seasonings, Earth’s Best, Ella’s Kitchen, Terra, Garden of Eatin’ and Sensible Portions.