Post To Reacquire its 8th Avenue Private Label Spinoff for $880 Million
Post Holdings Inc. is buying back 8th Avenue Food & Provisions, a mostly private label business it set up in 2018 with equity firm THL Partners. Among other things, it will bring in-house the manufacture of Post’s Peter Pan peanut butter and will bring back the Ronzoni brand of dried pasta.
Post will pay approximately $880 million to reacquire 8th Avenue, in which it apparently still holds some equity, including retiring the outstanding debt of the former spinoff. 8th Avenue’s categories include branded and private label dry pasta and private label nut butters, granola, and fruit & nut.
“The acquisition internalizes the manufacturing of Post’s Peter Pan peanut butter [acquired in late 2020 from Conagra], represents Post’s entry into the dry pasta category with leading brand Ronzoni and enables greater participation in the growing granola sub-category of ready-to-eat cereal,” Post’s statement said. The acquisition is expected to be completed on July 1.
Post bought the Ronzoni business from Riviana Foods, a unit of Spain-based Ebro Foods, in early 2021 for $95 million, and immediately placed it in 8th Avenue Food. That buy included a manufacturing facility in Winchester, Va.
Post management expects 8th Avenue to contribute approximately $115 million of adjusted EBITDA in the 12 months following the close of the acquisition, before the realization of cost synergies, which Post management expects to be at an annual run rate of approximately $15 million by the end of fiscal year 2026.
