Brynwood Partners and Harvest Hill Beverage Company Make Executive Appointments

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Aug 29, 2018, 08:00 ET

GREENWICH, Conn., Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Brynwood Partners ("Brynwood") is pleased to announce that John LeBoutiller will be joining the firm as a Managing Director. Mr. LeBoutillier was most recently President and CEO of Harvest Hill Beverage Company ("Harvest Hill"), a Brynwood Partners VII L.P. ("Brynwood VII") portfolio company that is the owner of the Juicy Juice^®, SunnyD^®, and Nutrament^® brands, among others. Prior to joining Harvest Hill, he held senior management positions at Kraft Foods for 15 years and was at Unilever where he was President of Unilever Canada.

"I have tremendous confidence in John LeBoutillier and believe that he will be an asset to an already strong Brynwood investment team," said Henk Hartong III, Chairman and CEO of the firm. "I have had the opportunity to work side-by-side with John at Harvest Hill and he has earned the opportunity to join Brynwood as a Managing Director. John is a great manager of both businesses and people but, equally important, he understands how our firm interacts with our management teams on a day-to-day basis. We pride ourselves on creating value through our operating expertise. John will be a valuable member of our team going forward."

Succeeding Mr. LeBoutillier will be Robert Mortati, who will become the President and CEO of Harvest Hill. Mr. Mortati was formerly Chief Marketing Officer of Apple & Eve LLC. Prior to joining Apple & Eve LLC, he held a succession of senior roles in Kraft Foods' Beverage and Coffee Divisions. Mr. Mortati will report to Mr. LeBoutillier. He will join the Harvest Hill board of directors and Mr. LeBoutillier will remain on the board. Mr. Hartong will continue in his capacity as Harvest Hill's Chairman.

"I am thrilled to have Robert join our team at Harvest Hill. Robert and I worked together on several businesses at Kraft Foods and his sharp analytical mind, decisiveness and sense of urgency will fit in well with the culture that we have created," said John LeBoutillier.

About Brynwood Partners:

Founded in 1984 and based in Greenwich, CT, Brynwood is an operationally-focused private equity firm that makes control investments in North American-based lower middle market companies. The firm targets non-core brands or companies operating exclusively in the consumer sector. Since inception, Brynwood Partners has acquired 52 brands from 19 different corporate sellers.

Brynwood currently manages more than $1 billion of private equity capital for limited partners, which include U.S. and international pension funds, fund-of-funds, endowments, high net worth family investment offices and financial institutions. For more information on Brynwood, please visit www.brynwoodpartners.com.

About Harvest Hill Beverage Company:

Harvest Hill, based in Stamford, CT, was formed by Brynwood VII in July 2014 to acquire the iconic Juicy Juice^® brand from Nestlé USA, Inc. Juicy Juice^® is the largest 100% juice brand in the U.S. focused on the kid's segment. The company markets Juicy Juice^® products in single-serve and multi-serve formats to the retail and foodservice channels. In March 2015, Harvest Hill acquired American Beverage Corporation ("ABC") from Wessanen, a publicly-traded food and beverage company based in Holland. With the ABC acquisition, the company added the Little HUG^® juice brand and Daily's Cocktails^® brand. ABC's brands are distributed to a blue-chip customer base that includes leading grocery retailers, wholesalers, supercenters and foodservice distributors. In October 2016, Harvest Hill acquired Faribault Foods, Inc.'s juice pouch manufacturing facility in Elk River, MN and other selected assets. Most recently, in December 2016, the company acquired the Nutrament^® energy drink brand from Nestlé HealthCare Nutrition, Inc.

Brynwood VII acquired Sunny Delight Beverages Co. ("Sunny Delight") from a private equity firm in February 2016 and, in May 2017, merged it into Harvest Hill. The 55-year-old SunnyD^® brand is a leading chilled juice drink in the U.S. In addition to the SunnyD^® brand, the company markets the Fruit₂O^®, Veryfine^®, Big Burst^® and Guzzler^® beverage brands. Sunny Delight's products are widely distributed through leading retailers in the U.S. and Canada.

Harvest Hill, which currently operates seven manufacturing facilities strategically located across the U.S., intends to continue to grow its branded, private label and co-manufacturing businesses both organically and through strategic add-on acquisitions. For more information on Harvest Hill, please visit www.harvesthill.com, www.sunnyd.com, www.littlehug.com, www.dailyscocktails.com, www.fruit2o.com, www.veryfine.com and www.nutrament.com.