Hormel Foods buys Fontanini Italian Meats and Sausages for $425m

Hormel Foods has acquired Fontanini Italian Meats and Sausages (Fontanini) from Capitol Wholesale Meats for $425m.

Based in Chicago, US, Fontanini offers a wide range of Italian meat and sausage products to the foodservice industry.

It also provides other meat products such as pizza toppings and meatballs.

Hormel Foods president and chief executive officer Jim Snee said: “This is a strategic acquisition for our high-growth food service division. We have delivered a strong track record of success in the foodservice industry with a growing portfolio of customers in the lodging, restaurant, healthcare and college and university sectors.

“The Fontanini brand is highly regarded, and the addition of these products to our portfolio will allow us to accelerate growth for both Hormel Foods food service and for Fontanini through expanded distribution and new customers.”

Fontanini will continue its operations from its new 188,000ft² USDA-regulated manufacturing facility in Chicago as a unit of Hormel’s Refrigerated Foods segment.

Hormel Foods foodservice group vice-president Jeff Baker said: “While we are focused on ensuring a seamless transition and continued stewardship of the Fontanini brand, we are also excited about leveraging their new state-of-the-art production facility, which has additional capacity to produce many Hormel Foods products.”

Structured as an asset sale, the transaction is expected to complete subject to customary working capital adjustments.

Further details about this deal are expected to be revealed during Hormel’s Q3 earnings call next week.