Littlejohn & Co. Announces Sale of CTI Foods To Thomas H. Lee Partners and an affiliate of Goldman Sachs

GREENWICH, Conn., May 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Littlejohn & Co., LLC, a private investment firm based in Greenwich, CT, announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell CTI Foods, a leading provider of custom food solutions to major chain restaurants in North America. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2013.

Littlejohn acquired CTI Foods in 2010 and shortly thereafter appointed Robert ("Bobby") Horowitz as the new CEO of the business.  Littlejohn, together with the Company's management team, expanded the company into a leading national provider of custom, value-added food products.  During Littlejohn's ownership, CTI built a new state-of-the-art soup plant and R&D facility, completed two acquisitions and developed several major new accounts that diversified its customer base.

"This successful transaction is the culmination of our collaboration with a management team that flawlessly executed on a number of strategic growth initiatives.  The result is a much stronger company in terms of its customer base, product offerings, profitability, and safety," said Steven G. Raich, a Managing Director at Littlejohn. Michael Kaplan, also a Littlejohn Managing Director, added, "The business is well positioned for continued growth and we are confident that the new ownership will continue to support the Company's development."

Mr. Horowitz, said, "Littlejohn was instrumental in helping us capitalize on a number of opportunities to organically grow the business, as well as complete strategic acquisitions to build for the future.  We look forward to working with our new partners to build on these and other initiatives to continue the company's growth."

Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to CTI Foods in connection with the transaction.

About Littlejohn & Co., LLC
Littlejohn & Co. is a Greenwich, Connecticut-based private equity and distressed securities firm investing in middle-market companies that are undergoing a fundamental change in capital structure, strategy, operations or growth that can benefit from its operational and strategic approach. The firm is currently investing from Littlejohn Fund IV, L.P., which has over $1.3 billion in capital commitments. For more information, visit www.littlejohnllc.com.

Contact: Chris Tofalli
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SOURCE Littlejohn & Co., LLC