(Jamaica Gleaner) Grace Foods (USA), Inc. a company owned by GraceKennedy Limited, said it will be acquiring a 49 per cent equity stake in a new joint venture company, Majesty Foods, a Florida-based manufacturer of patty and empanada products.
The range of Majesty’s product portfolio is marketed under its own brands ‘Patty King” and “Latin Delights” as well as under other third-party brands, GraceKennmedy said in a release.
The company has extensive and valuable co-packing relationships with leading companies in the United States and its products are sold through multiple retailers including Whole Foods and Publix.
Majesty Foods also sells to leading food services distributors including Sysco, Cheney Brothers and Jetro/Restaurant De-pot, GraceKennedy said.
Grace Foods currently owns and operates a 23,000 square-foot cold storage and food processing facility in Florida.
As a part of the agreement, Grace Foods will outsource to Majesty Foods its current factory operations, which include the production of a wide portfolio of frozen Hispanic and Caribbean products for the retail and food service channels.
“Majesty Foods is the current manufacturer of Grace brand patties for the USA market which are available nationwide in leading retailers including Wal-Mart and Target,” said GraceKennedy’s CEO Don Wehby.
“Grace brand patties have been doing exceptionally well, experiencing double-digit growth in the market. The consolidation of these two entities will create a stronger and better capitalized business through various synergies, allowing Majesty Foods to provide an enhanced service offering to all its customers,” he added.
Wehby said GraceKennedy has been aggressively pursuing opportunities for mergers and acquisitions as a part its long-term strategy.
“This joint venture is a step in the right direction for our Foods Division as we strive to leverage our leading position in the USA-Caribbean market to become one of the top players in the USA-Hispanic market through our ‘La Fe’ brand,” Wehby said.
The principals of Majesty Foods, Gary Tie-Shue and Colin Chang, who are also of Jamaican descent, will continue to lead the manufacturing operation that they started 20 years ago.
The transaction was arranged by GK Capital Management Limited.
