Canadian investor Bond Bakery Brands enters the market with two acquisitions
Pace Processing and Portofino Bakery are inaugural investments by the Toronto-based investor Bond Bakery Brands
Bond Bakery Brands has entered the market with two inaugural investments, the acquisition of Portofino Bakery and Pace Processing and Product Development.
Founded by Nicolas Mulroney, Cameron Lorey, and Matthew Simon, Bond Bakery Brands is a stakeholder-focused investment platform accelerating the growth of bakery companies.
The two inaugural investments are the acquisition of Portofino Bakery and Pace Processing and Product Development. Through these companies, Bond employs more than 550 people through seven facilities in Canada.
Headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia, Portofino Bakery provides high-quality artisanal-style branded bakery products to retail and foodservice customers.
Pace Processing, headquartered in Surrey, BC, is a private label manufacturer that specialises in pizzas, cakes and other sweet and savoury baked goods, catering retail foodservice customers in Canada and the United States.
Both Portofino Bakery and Pace Processing have established strong customer and distribution relationships that will continue to grow under Bond.
“Portofino Bakery and Pace Processing are industry-leading bakery companies that we are excited to have join our platform,” said Chief executive Nicolas Mulroney, noting their success has been built on strong customer service, product innovation and entrepreneurial management teams.
“We are committed to accelerate the growth of these companies and amplify the impact they have on their communities,” he added.
Bakery investments
Bond is focused on bringing together growing bakery companies. The company said it’s dedicated to the greater good through food and will prioritise developing a bond with all stakeholders including employees, customers, shareholders, and the environment along with all the communities it serves.
“We are excited to support and invest significantly to continue expanding Portofino Bakery and Pace Processing’s market presence on the Bond Bakery Brands platform,” said Cameron Loree, executive vice president of investments and corporate development at Bond.
Loree argued Bond is uniquely positioned to continue pursuing transformational acquisitions with branded and unbranded businesses.
“Bond will be key in accelerating the achievement of Portofino Bakery’s growth objectives,” said Matt Cimon, president of Portofino Bakery. “I am looking forward to working closely with the Bond and Pace Processing teams to increase our production capabilities, build strong partnerships and continue expanding our distribution footprint beyond the BC borders.”
Cimon explained that seeing Bond placing significant focus on making a positive impact on the world around them is important to Portofino Bakery and matches well with its ethos.
“We are excited to partner with the team at Bond and join their bakery growth platform,” said Sean Darrah, president of Pace Processing. “Bond will allow us to invest in expanding our production capabilities, focusing on investments in both automated equipment and human capital. Having a strong branded partner like Portofino Bakery opens up unique opportunities for us to accelerate our growth objectives.”
Duff & Phelps Canada served as the exclusive financial advisor to the shareholders of Pace and provided sell-side M&A advisory services in connection with the sale to Bond.
Bond entrusted legal advice to Wildeboer Dellelce and financial advice to PricewaterhouseCoopers in Canada and INFOR Financial.
Stikeman Elliott acted as legal advisor to the selling shareholders of Pace Processing.