TreeHouse Foods to Acquire Farmer Brothers' Northlake, Texas Coffee Facility

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Jun 07, 2023, 06:55 ET

OAK BROOK, Ill., June 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement with Farmer Brothers Company (Nasdaq: FARM) to acquire its Northlake, Texas, coffee facility and the Farmer Brothers non-Direct Store Delivery coffee business (referred to as Direct Ship) for approximately $100 million, subject to customary purchase price adjustments.

The facility, built in 2017, brings roasting, grinding, flavoring and blending capabilities to the TreeHouse Foods portfolio to complement the Company's existing single-serve pod and ready-to-drink coffee businesses. The acquisition enables TreeHouse Foods to deliver greater category depth in a world-class, end-to-end private label coffee offering for its customers.

"The state-of-the-art Northlake facility strengthens TreeHouse Foods' category depth in coffee as a focused, private label leader and is consistent with our strategy to pursue opportunities that drive category growth and deliver attractive financial returns," said Steve Oakland, CEO and President of TreeHouse Foods. "As we continue to execute our long-term growth initiatives, we're pleased to add new capabilities, particularly in roasting and grinding, which make us a more vertically integrated coffee manufacturer able to further penetrate this high growth, high margin category."

Farmer Brothers has historically been a bulk ground coffee supplier to TreeHouse Foods for its single-serve pods and ready-to-drink beverages. Following closing, the acquisition is expected to create greater profit capture in the supply chain. TreeHouse Foods will also assume select customer relationships and retain approximately 180 team members from Farmer Brothers to support operations at the facility.

The transaction is expected to close within the next 60 days.

About TreeHouse Foods
TreeHouse Foods, Inc. is a leading private label food and beverage manufacturer in North America. Our purpose is to engage and delight – one customer at a time. Through our customer focus and category experience, we strive to deliver excellent service and build capabilities and insights to drive mutually profitable growth for TreeHouse and our customers. Our purpose is supported by investment in depth, capabilities and operational efficiencies, which are aimed to capitalize on the long-term growth prospects in the categories in which we operate.

Additional information, including TreeHouse Foods' most recent statements on forms 10-Q and 10-K, may be found at treehousefoods.com.

About Farmer Brothers
Founded in 1912, Farmer Brothers is a national coffee roaster, wholesaler, equipment servicer and distributor of coffee, tea and culinary products. The company's product lines, include organic, Direct Trade and sustainably produced coffee. With a robust line of coffee, hot and iced teas, cappuccino mixes, spices and baking/biscuit mixes, Farmer Brothers delivers extensive beverage planning services and culinary products to its U.S.-based customers. It serves a wide variety of customers, from small independent restaurants and foodservice operators to large institutional buyers, such as restaurant, department and convenience store chains, hotels, casinos, healthcare facilities and gourmet coffee houses, as well as grocery chains with private brand coffee and consumer branded coffee and tea products, and foodservice distributors.

Headquartered in Northlake, Texas, Farmer Brothers generated net sales of $469.2 million in fiscal 2022. The company's primary brands include Farmer Brothers, Artisan Collection by Farmer Brother, Superior, Metropolitan, China Mist and Boyd's.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements and other information are based on our beliefs, as well as assumptions made by us, using information currently available. The words "believe," "estimate," "project," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "intend," "foresee," "should," "would," "could," and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected, or intended. We do not intend to update these forward-looking statements following the date of this press release.

Such forward-looking statements, because they relate to future events, are by their very nature subject to many important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release and other public statements we make. Such factors include, but are not limited to: risks related to the impact that the divestiture of a significant portion of our Meal Preparation Business or any such divestiture might have on the Company's operations; disruptions or inefficiencies in our supply chain and/or operations; loss of key suppliers; raw material and commodity costs due to inflation; labor strikes or work stoppages; multiemployer pension plans; labor shortages and increased competition for labor; success of our growth, reinvestment, and restructuring programs; our level of indebtedness and related obligations; disruptions in the financial markets; interest rates; changes in foreign currency exchange rates; collectibility of our note receivable, customer concentration and consolidation; competition; our ability to execute on our business strategy; our ability to continue to make acquisitions and execute on divestitures or effectively manage the growth from acquisitions; impairment of goodwill or long lived assets; changes and developments affecting our industry, including customer preferences; the outcome of litigation and regulatory proceedings to which we may be a party; product recalls; changes in laws and regulations applicable to us; shareholder activism; disruptions in or failures of our information technology systems; changes in weather conditions, climate changes, and natural disasters; and other risks that are set forth in the Risk Factors section, the Legal Proceedings section, the Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations section, and other sections of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, and from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). You are cautioned not to unduly rely on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made when evaluating the information presented in this press release. TreeHouse expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein, to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto, or any other change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.

SOURCE TreeHouse Foods, Inc.