By Abigail Summerville
(Reuters) – Private equity firm Blackstone is considering a sale of Trilliant Food & Nutrition that could value the U.S. company behind the Victor Allen’s and Aspen Ridge coffee brands at about $600 million including debt, three people familiar with the matter said.
Blackstone has tapped Bank of America as financial adviser on the potential sale, the sources said.
Trilliant generates nearly $60 million of annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, the sources added.
Blackstone and Bank of America declined to comment. Trilliant did not respond to requests for comment.
Trilliant makes private label and branded beverages, including coffee grounds, coffee pods, teas and fruit drink mixes. The Wisconsin-based company was founded in 1979 by Victor Allen Mondry and changed its name from Victor Allen’s Coffee to Trilliant in 2013.
While Trilliant’s business has taken a hit from a jump in raw material costs it has benefited from consumers seeking the convenience of single-serve and ready-to-drink coffee, as well as growing demand for cheaper private-label products, credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service said last year.
Blackstone gained majority ownership of the company through a preferred equity investment in 2017.
It invested $291 million in the form of payment-in-kind notes, which grow each year as the company adds to the notes balance instead of paying Blackstone annual interest.
(Reporting by Abigail Summerville in New York; Editing by David Goodman)
