Bumble Bee plant in Mayagüez sold as part of $980M deal
Private equity firm Centre Partners announced Wednesday the sale of its Bumble Bee Foods division to Lion Capital, for $980 million.The transaction includes the cannery in Mayagüez, which has been in operation since 1962. Bumble Bee is North America’s leading supplier of shelf-stable seafood under the Bumble Bee, Clover Leaf, Brunswick, Snow’s, Beach Cliff, King Oscar and Sweet Sue brands.
“We are pleased to consummate this transaction and realize the success that Bumble Bee has experienced during our recent ownership,” said Scott Perekslis, Senior Partner at Centre Partners. “We have enjoyed a long and fruitful partnership with Bumble Bee’s management team, led by Chris Lischewski.”
Aside from the cannery in Mayagüez, Bumble Bee has another such facility in California and six other production and distribution plants in the U.S. and Canada, where it employs a total of 1,700 people. In 2009, the company generated more than $940 million of net revenue.
“We are proud of our accomplishments with Centre Partners, who brought a unique depth of experience investing in branded consumer businesses and the food sector. The firm’s financial support and expertise enabled us to accelerate our growth plans for the business, while allowing us to maintain our focus on operational excellence,” said Lischewski, who in 2005 visited the Mayagüez operation to participate in the announcement of an agreement to supply tuna exclusively to Costco’s retail operations on the island.
At the time, Lischewski admitted that the island’s tuna operation had been hard-hit by the significant competition posed by low-cost producers in Asia.
