St. Louis, MO—Post Holdings, a consumer packaged goods holding company, on Thursday announced it has agreed to acquire MIF Holding Corporation (Michael Foods) from affiliates of GS Capital Partners, affiliates of Thomas H. Lee Partners and other owners, for $2.45 billion.
Michael Foods, based in Minnetonka, MN, is a leading producer of value-added food products, including cheese, and service solutions to customers across the retail, foodservice and food ingredient channels. It holds leading market positions in such categories as cheese, value-added egg products and refrigerated potato products.
Michael Foods has several wellknown brands, including Crystal Farms, which has a cut and wrap facility in Lake Mills, WI. Crystal Farms distributes over 80 million pounds of cheese and nine million pounds of butter annually to all 50 states, according to the company’s website.
Crystal Farms’ cheese product lineup includes, among other things, a wide variety of block, shredded and sliced cheeses, as well as string, stick and snack cheeses, cream cheese and specialty cheeses.
Post Holdings is a consumer packaged goods holding company operating in the center-of-thestore, active nutrition and private label food categories. The company’s center-of-the-store portfolio includes a number of cereal products under various brand names.
Post’s nutrition platform includes Premier Protein, which makes protein shakes and bars; and Supreme Protein, which produces bars as well as a whey and casein protein shake mix and high protein milkshakes.
“This is an exciting time for the entire Michael Foods team and clearly demonstrates the strength of our brands, the value of our deep customer relationships and the dedication of our employees,” said Jim Dwyer, chairman and chief executive officer of Michael Foods. “We believe our business will benefit from Post’s portfolio management approach and from our continued focus on the breakfast daypart, expanding egg consumption to all dayparts, and delivering convenient meal and snack choices to consumers.”
According to Post Holdings, Michael Foods will continue to operate independently under the leadership of Dwyer and the company’s current management team.
The acquisition is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2014, subject to customary closing conditions.
