Sioux City, Iowa and New York, November 13, 2017 – Cloverleaf Cold Storage ("Cloverleaf" or the “Company"), a leading cold storage warehousing and food logistics company owned by the Feiges and Kaplan families since its founding in 1952, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to recapitalize the Company whereby private equity funds affiliated with Blackstone (NYSE:BX) ("Blackstone") will make a majority equity investment into Cloverleaf alongside the existing family shareholders, who will continue to operate the business post-closing, to support future growth in the Company. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“At Cloverleaf, we are focused on building our business for the long-term, continuing to deliver our customers best-in-class service and supporting our communities,” said Daniel Kaplan, Co-President of Cloverleaf. “Our partnership with a world-class firm such as Blackstone provides us with significant capital and operating resources to invest for growth and continue to expand our platform. The Feiges and Kaplan families are very pleased to be working with Blackstone as we begin the next chapter of our growth story.”
Cloverleaf is a trusted partner to many of the largest food producers in the world. It operates a network of 19 warehouses across the U.S. providing a variety of food grade storage, handling, and freezing services. Its Farmers Produce division offers value-added processing and logistics services to the protein industry. Cloverleaf serves over 800 customers, many with whom the Company holds over 30-year relationships. The Company is committed to investing alongside its existing and prospective customers’ growing supply chain needs.
Seth Meisel, a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, said, “The Feiges and Kaplan families’ multi-decade commitment to building Cloverleaf into a leading cold storage platform is very impressive. We are excited to partner with Cloverleaf and its outstanding management team, and we look forward to supporting Cloverleaf’s continued growth and expansion.”
David Kestnbaum, a Managing Director at Blackstone, said, “We are pleased to invest significant capital into Cloverleaf to assist the Company’s existing shareholders and management team in continuing to build a market leading platform within the cold storage industry, which has been a strategic industry we have prioritized for investment.”
Wells Fargo Securities served as financial advisor and Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP served as legal advisor to Cloverleaf during the transaction. Barclays and Goldman Sachs served as financial advisors to Blackstone and Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as legal advisors. Committed debt financing for the recapitalization was provided by Goldman Sachs.
About Cloverleaf
Cloverleaf Cold Storage is a family owned cold storage warehouse and processing company. It was founded in 1952 and is now the 8th largest public refrigerated warehouse company in North America, as reported by the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses, an industry trade group. It has operations in eight states from the Midwest to the Southeastern US.
About Blackstone
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our asset management businesses, with over $385 billion in assets under management, include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.
Contacts
Blackstone
Paula Chirhart, +1-212-583-5011
paula.chirhart@blackstone.com