CINCINNATI — AdvancePierre Foods, a manufacturer and marketer of value-added proteins and sandwich products, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the wholesale and manufacturing operations of Landshire, Inc., a Caseyville, Ill.-based manufacturer of sandwich products. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“We are very excited about the recognized and established product platform and first-class facility that Landshire brings to our existing portfolio and network,” said John Simons, president and chief executive officer of AdvancePierre. “We are eager to build upon the Trover family legacy and delighted to incorporate Landshire’s product capabilities for our customers across our broad sales channels. This acquisition underscores AdvancePierre’s commitment to innovation and quality as we continue to provide our customers with tasty and unique sandwiches and center-of-plate proteins solutions.”
Under the terms of the agreement, AdvancePierre will assume ownership of Landshire’s sandwich manufacturing operations, which produce more than 80 frozen, fully cooked products and feature a variety of sandwiches, including patties, subs, wedges, breakfast offerings and specialty items. The Trover family will retain its proprietary direct-store-delivery distribution network of more than 100 routes in 23 states — which will be known as “Landshire Distribution” after the acquisition closes — and has entered into a distribution agreement with AdvancePierre.
The acquisition is expected to give AdvancePierre additional premium products that will complement and increase its product offerings and align with the channels it serves. Additionally, Landshire’s facilities are expected to provide AdvancePierre with additional capacity for increased sandwich and bakery production. AdvancePierre currently produces approximately 2 million sandwiches a day, and the addition of Landshire is expected to comprise more than 10% of AdvancePierre’s sandwich sales in 2015.
“The acquisition of Landshire’s wholesale and manufacturing operations further fortifies AdvancePierre’s market-leading position in providing sandwich solutions to our customers,” said Matthew Wilson, director of AdvancePierre’s board of directors and co-portfolio manager at Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. “We continue to see a significant number of highly attractive, synergistic acquisition opportunities for our two core business lines — sandwiches and value-added protein solutions — and believe the company is well capitalized to fund future opportunities as they arise. We expect AdvancePierre to announce additional transactions this year based upon our current pipeline of prospective partners.”
The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2015.
With revenues of $1.6 billion and more than 4,000 employees, AdvancePierre offers a broad line of packaged sandwiches; fully cooked beef, chicken, and pork products; uncooked meat items such as Philly-style steak, breaded beef and stuffed chicken entrees; and bakery products.