B&G Foods, Inc. announced that effective today it has acquired the frozen vegetable manufacturing operations of Growers Express, LLC. Growers Express is an industry innovator which manufactures, produces, packages and sells frozen vegetable products, primarily Green Giant® Riced Veggies and Green Giant Veggie Spirals®. The purchased assets include inventory, equipment, a sublease for a portion of a manufacturing facility in Yuma, Arizona, and a lease for a warehouse facility in San Luis, Arizona. Approximately 155 employees will transfer to B&G Foods.
“By increasing the variety and volume of Green Giant frozen vegetable products produced at internal manufacturing facilities, we expect to reduce inefficiencies, reduce costs and reduce supply chain risk for certain Green Giant frozen products. We also believe that this acquisition will enhance our innovation efforts for the Green Giant brand and improve our speed to market for new innovation. Growers Express has been an important partner of B&G Foods for a number of years and we thank them for their partnership,” stated Casey Keller, President and Chief Executive Officer of B&G Foods.
As part of the acquisition, B&G Foods also repurchased the master license agreement for certain Green GiantTM Fresh vegetable products and will assume responsibility for the administration of related sublicense agreements.
In a joint statement, Mark Dendle, CEO, and Kirk Wagner, COO of Growers Express stated, “We are extremely thankful for all the Team Members who developed one of the largest riced and spiralized frozen vegetable production facilities globally. Our blue-ribbon Team has collaborated with B&G Foods on product innovation and quality since 2016, benefitting from the strategic position of our facilities and delivering to the highest quality and food safety standards.”
B&G Foods funded the acquisition and related fees and expenses with cash on hand and revolving loans under its existing credit facility. The acquisition is expected to result in a slight reduction to B&G Foods’ consolidated leverage ratio1. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
