March 2, 2018 – Italian Rose Gourmet Products, a Blue Point Capital Partners portfolio company, has broadened its market presence with the acquisition of La Mexicana Food Products.
The acquisition of the Vernon, California-based refrigerated salsa manufacturer is the first add-on for Italian Rose since Blue Point acquired the company in November.
Blue Point’s acquisition of Italian Rose gave the Cleveland-based PE firm a food-distribution platform company for its Blue Point III lower middle-market fund that it started in 2014.
The addition of La Mexicana’s West Coast operations to Italian Rose’s East Coast presence will give it national scale, as well as production diversity and product breadth to both companies’ customers.
“For a combined 60 years, Italian Rose and La Mexicana have been manufacturing and distributing fresh, better-for-you products, and their efforts continue to redefine industry standards,” Blue Point partner John LeMay said in a statement. “Combining these two industry leaders was a natural and complementary fit.”
The Spartan Group acted as exclusive financial advisor to La Mexicana.