Brynwood Partners V LP Demet's Candy Co. will be sold to Yildiz Holdings AS, which possesses the Godiva chocolate brand in a $221 million deal CSPnet.com reported Friday.
"We are delighted to announce the divestiture of DeMet's Candy," Hendrik Hartong III, chairman at DeMet's Candy and senior managing partner of Brynwood Partners told CSPnet.com."We felt there were underlying strengths in the brands we believed would allow us to improve the performance of the businesses."
Peter Wilson, CEO at Brynwood Partners is expected to become part of the firm's VII LP, while the remaining employees stay where they are CSPnet.com reported.
"This investment highlights Brynwood Partners' unique operational capabilities in the private equity sector," Hartong told CSPnet.com. "We originally formed DeMet's Candy in 2007 to acquire the Turtles brand in the U.S. from Nestle USA and combined it with the Flipz brand, which we had acquired from Nestle USA in 2004. After forming DeMet's Candy we quickly hired a management team, with whom we have worked collaboratively, to create significant shareholder value. "We are grateful to DeMet's Candy's management team and all of the hard working employees in the manufacturing plants for their tireless efforts under our ownership. We wish Yildiz success with this outstanding company."
According to The Wall Street Journal, Brynwood anticipates raking in quadruple the amount it put forth towards DeMet's.
Two hundred people work at DeMet's Candy, headquartered in Stamford, Conn. The company has two manufacturing facilities.
Brynwood built one of the locations in Big Flats, N.Y., which also brought 150 positions to the community. The second plant was greatly improved according to CSP.
DeMet's makes chocolate products such as turtles, treasures, and flipz, and has seen its sales, production, and profitability increase dating back to its inception in 2007.
Ylidiz is researching options in the United States, and abroad The Journal reported.
