CTI Foods (“CTI”), a leading provider of custom food solutions to America’s top restaurant chains, announced that it has acquired Liguria Foods, a producer of high-quality pepperoni, salami, and other premium protein pizza toppings for both pizzerias and sandwich shops.
“We are excited to welcome Liguria to the CTI family, and we especially like that Liguria is the pepperoni of choice for many of the most discriminating, independent and multi-unit pizzerias in the U.S.,” said Sam Rovit, President and CEO of CTI Foods. “It’s a good market to compete in, as pizza sales are growing at three percent annually and roughly half of all pizzas in the U.S. are ordered with pepperoni. The addition of Liguria’s high quality products is consistent with our commitment to growth by diversifying CTI’s differentiated protein offerings and broadening CTI’s distribution channels.”
“We have aggressively built market share by being highly responsive to customer needs and by focusing on independent and multi-unit operators who want authentic, high quality, and flavorful pepperoni,” said Liguria CEO Lance Chambers. “We’re very pleased to align with CTI. We believe our teams are a great fit and look forward to leveraging our array of complementary capabilities as we continue to earn our customers’ business each and every day.”
“Our strategy is to be on the lookout for excellent businesses like Liguria that can benefit their customers by accessing the resources of a larger company and that bring new products to our customers,” Rovit said. “In addition, we have developed a high regard for Liguria’s management and are delighted that the entire team will be joining CTI under the continued leadership of Lance Chambers.”
CTI Foods, headquartered in Wilder, Idaho, was founded in 1985. The company’s value-added products include cooked proteins such as fajita and taco meat, beans, soups and sauces produced at six plants across the United States.
Liguria Foods, headquartered in Humboldt, Iowa, was founded in 1974.
CTI is owned in majority by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Goldman Sachs & Co. Liguria was majority owned by BBH Capital Partners, which is the principal investing unit of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
The transaction closed on February 12, 2016. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Source: CTI Foods
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