Harvest Hill Beverage Company to Acquire the Nutrament® Business from Nestlé

GREENWICH, Conn., Dec. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Brynwood Partners VII L.P. announced today that its majority-owned portfolio company, Harvest Hill Beverage Company, has reached an agreement to acquire the iconic NUTRAMENT business from Nestlé HealthCare Nutrition, Inc.  Based in Stamford, CT, Harvest Hill is the owner of the Juicy Juice, Little HUG and Daily's brands.  The NUTRAMENT transaction marks Harvest Hill's fourth acquisition since its founding in July 2014, and its second from Nestlé.  The transaction is expected to close by year end and its terms and condition are not being disclosed.

NUTRAMENT is a leading brand in the dairy-based energy drink segment.  The brand, which was founded in the 1960s, is primarily sold to its loyal customer base on the U.S. East Coast, Canada and the Caribbean Islands.

"The NUTRAMENT acquisition strengthens Harvest Hill's position in several strategically important areas," said Hendrik J. Hartong III, Chairman and CEO of Brynwood Partners.  "NUTRAMENT has a strong position in certain critical urban markets that will benefit Harvest Hill's entire brand portfolio.  Harvest Hill will increase its scale with the brand's loyal customer base and will also acquire access to a broad export distributor network in the Caribbean."

"We are excited to add NUTRAMENT to Harvest Hill's portfolio and look forward to investing in the brand," said Doug Gillespie, CEO of Harvest Hill.  "NUTRAMENT is a well-known brand with loyal consumers that have, in many cases, been purchasing the brand's products since the 1960s."

"We are excited to complete our seventh brand acquisition from Nestlé and we value our long-standing relationship," said Ian MacTaggart, President and COO of Brynwood Partners.  "Brynwood Partners continues to strengthen its position as the leader in the consumer corporate acquisition sector.  Including this acquisition, which we expect to close by year end, the firm will have acquired 47 brands from 18 different corporate sellers."

About Brynwood Partners:

Brynwood Partners, founded in 1984 and based in Greenwich, CT, is an operationally-focused private equity firm that makes control investments in North American-based lower middle market companies in the consumer sector.

Brynwood Partners currently manages more than $725 million of private equity capital for its 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 Partners, please visit www.brynwoodpartners.com.

About Harvest Hill Beverage Company:

Harvest Hill Beverage Company, based in Stamford, CT, was formed by Brynwood Partners VII L.P. 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 kids segment.  Harvest Hill currently markets Juicy Juice products in single-serve and multi-serve formats.  In March 2015, Harvest Hill acquired American Beverage Corporation from Wessanen, a publicly-traded food and beverage company based in Holland.  With the ABC acquisition, Harvest Hill added the Little HUG juice brand and Daily's Cocktails brand.  The company's brands are distributed to a blue-chip customer base that includes leading grocery retailers, wholesalers, supercenters and foodservice distributors.  Additionally, Daily's products are sold through foodservice distributors to bars and restaurants.  Most recently, the company acquired the beverage manufacturing assets of Faribault Foods, Inc.  The company continues to grow both organically and through strategic add-on acquisitions.  For more information on Harvest Hill, please visit www.harvesthill.com.

SOURCE Brynwood Partners VII L.P.