The acquisition of Whole Earth Brands was completed earlier this month, which saw it go from being a public company through a SPAC, then back to being private. The company that performed the acquisition was Sweet Oak, which is a new collection of brands formed by investment firms Mariposa Capital and Rhône Capital.
Whole Earth Brands houses food based brands such as Whole Earth, Pure Via, Wholesome, Swerve, Canderel and Equal. It will join charcoal producer Royal Oak under the Sweet Oak umbrella.
Mariposa Capital
From the following statement on Royal Oak’s website, I had always assumed that they were still a family owned company.
Royal Oak® was founded in 1953 and we’re committed to providing the highest-quality charcoal and grilling products from our family to yours.
Through research for this article, I was surprised to learn that they were bought by an investment firm, Mariposa Capital, in 2016. There was hardly any news about the acquisition other than the mention below from a Reuters article about middle market lending.
Charcoal maker Royal Oak Enterprises also raised a new acquisition term loan backing its sale to Mariposa. The company raised a US$325m term loan, priced at 475bp over Libor with a 1% floor. SunTrust led the deal.
Reuters
That’s not to give the impression that there’s anything wrong with being owned by an investment firm. Royal Oak makes good charcoal and has been investing in growing their operations.
Mariposa Capital is a Miami-based family investment firm backed by Martin E. Franklin. He has a history of successfully building companies and exiting them with a high return on investment.
Most notable was Jarden, which was a consumer packaged goods (CPG) company that Franklin grew largely through acquisition, and sold it to Newell Brands. Some notable brands under Jarden in the outdoor cooking space were Coleman and Sunbeam.
Interestingly enough, Jarden also owned Diamond Matches, which was sold to Newell and then was bought back under the Royal Oak brand. Along with that acquisition from Newell, Royal Oak also bought Pine Mountain Starters.
Sweet Oak
When it was bought by Mariposa, Royal Oak sat alone in a holding company called Ozark Holdings. With the acquisition of Whole Earth Brands, Ozark Holdings is being renamed Sweet Oak.
Being in a holding company of CPG brands is similar to how Kingsford charcoal is positioned. They are owned by Clorox, which has many other household brands such as Hidden Valley, Glad, Brita, and Burt’s Bees.
From an outsider’s perspective, Sweet Oak also seems to be on the same trajectory as Jarden. It’s a growing house of brands that form a larger company, which provides for a much larger exit down the road.