B&G Foods completes acquisition of Specialty Brands of America

US-based B&G Foods has completed its acquisition of Specialty Brands of America and related entities from American Capital affiliates for around $155m in cash.

Specialty Brands, established in 1992 and based in New York, US, is a packaged food company with a range of differentiated brands. Bear Creek Country Kitchens is the company’s largest brand as well as the leading brand of hearty dry soups in the US. Bear Creek also offers a line of savoury pasta dishes and rice dishes.

Specialty Brands also manufactures Spring Tree, Cary’s and MacDonald’s pure maple syrups and pancake syrups, New York Flatbreads and Canoleo margarine.

B&G Foods expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to earnings per share and free cash flow.

B&G Foods has used cash on hand and borrowings under its existing revolving credit facility to fund the acquisition. After being fully integrated into B&G Foods, Specialty Brands is expected to report around $85m in net revenues with adjusted EBITDA of $20m on an annualised basis.

Evercore Group provided advisory services to American Capital on the deal.

On 3 April, B&G Foods announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Specialty Brands of America and related entities.

At the time, B&G Foods president and CEO David L Wenner said that the company was looking forward to welcoming Specialty Brands into its family of brands.

"These brands complement very well our existing portfolio of brands and we believe that B&G Foods will be able to enhance the growth prospects of these brands," Wenner added.

Based in Parsippany, New Jersey, B&G Foods, along with its subsidiaries, manufactures, sells and distributes a diversified portfolio of shelf-stable foods across the US, Canada and Puerto Rico.

American Capital is a publicly traded private equity firm with $19bn in assets.