5 months ago
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Two-and-a-half years after Jamaica Producers Group partnered with Norbrook Equity Partners to acquire Grupo Alaska SA, the two companies have sold the ice and bottled water operation in Dominican Republic.
The size of the deal was not disclosed. Norbrook and Jamaica Producers held interest in the company through Grupo Frontera, in which they were 50/50 partners. Jamaica Producers' interest in the DomRep company was passed along to Pan Jamaica Group during the merger of its operations with PJAM last year.
The ice/water business, which has manufacturing and distribution operations in Santo Domingo and Punta Cana and employs more than 300 people, was sold to Diesco Industries Limited, an international group with a regional focus on the business of bottled water, PJAM disclosed in a market filing.
Executive Chairman of Norbrook Equity Khary Robinson told the Financial Gleaner that at the time of the acquisition, his company had been on the lookout for investment opportunities including that offered by Grupo Alaska and he decided to partner with Jamaica Producers, which was already operational in DomRep with a different business.
"We did a joint venture called Grup0 Frontera, took over that business, ran it, grew it, and sold it to the largest conglomerate in the DR,” Robinson said.
He added that Grupo Frontera is now “in the process of evaluating opportunities”.
PJAM CEO Jeffrey Hall confirmed the active search for other opportunities, but said the company was in no hurry.
“The nature of that business is that we tend to be opportunistic so we're not working with any timeframe regarding the next move,” Hall told the Financial Gleaner, noting that, so far, the Grupo Frontera experience “was excellent”.
“We made our target returns and we proved the concept of using acquisition to secure other opportunities in strategic markets,” Hall said of the Grupo Alaska investment.
Hall said that while the 30-month involvement was on the short side of the typical planned investment horizon, the exit now was the right thing to do.
“The opportunity presented itself, the value target was secured; we were able to fulfil our strategic goals of putting in place a strong management team, gaining market share, improving the brand health and strengthening the financial controls. Once we do that, the business attracts improved valuations,” Hall said.
He declined to comment on the sale price, citing confidentiality agreements.
Meanwhile, PJAM is expanding its fresh juice holdings in Europe. The company says it has acquired APA Processing BZ SLU, a fresh juice processing facility in Barcelona, Spain which will be held by the Group’s joint venture juice company, CoBeverage Lab SA.
The price of that transaction was also not disclosed.
In a release, PJAM said the acquisition of APA is expected to provide additional high pressure processing capacity to the the PJAM Juice Group, which has facilities in Spain, Belgium and The Netherlands.
Hall said the acquisition should add about 10 per cent to the company’s juice output.
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