Universal Food and Beverage acquires aseptic bottling plant
Assets acquired also include intellectual property, contract rights, business records, inventory, and other personal property items.
23/02/06 Universal Food and Beverage Company has announced that it purchased a fully operational aseptic bottling, packaging, and distribution facility located in Savannah, Georgia from California Natural Products (CNP) at a purchase price of $9 million. The transaction closed on February 17, 2006.
The Savannah production facility is approximately 125,000 square feet, is located on a 14 acre site and has 7 aseptic lines and 4 processing systems. The assets acquired also include intellectual property, contract rights, business records, inventory, and other personal property items.
Established in July 2004, Universal Food and Beverage ("Universal" or the "Company") is a manufacturer of co-packed, private label and branded beverage products. Universal is led by Duane Martin, former president of IGA, the world's largest network of retail grocery stores. The Company has an established manufacturing facility and a strong sales pipeline. In addition to manufacturing and co-packing, Universal offers development, manufacturing and distribution of a wide variety of beverage products across several different processes to brands and private label customers. In addition to its co-packing business, the Company has a growing portfolio of higher margin private-label and Company-owned brands.
Universal produces proprietary products that can provide a competitive alternative to name brand products for retailers. Universal has assembled a powerful management team with varying fields of expertise including product development, manufacturing, marketing and distribution. With a sustained history of creating and marketing brands, the management team brings a network of relationships with retailers, extensive experience in developing manufacturing facilities, and a strong reputation in the liquid food and beverage segment. The team has long-standing relationships with co-packaging clients, retail clients and private label clients as well as the experience to identify strategic acquisitions and develop new technologies.
