Valesco Industries Successfully Exits Adams Flavors, Foods & Ingredients out of Fund I

On March 3^rd, 2022, Valesco completed the exit of of Adams Flavors, Foods and Ingredients (“Adams”), the final investment in Valesco’s inaugural committed capital fund.  Adams became a part of the Valesco portfolio when the fund made a control investment in November 2012. 
 
Adams, located in Gonzales, TX, is a leader in the manufacturing and distribution of flavors, extracts and spices sold to consumers through retail supermarkets and food manufacturers. The products are primarily used for culinary flavoring purposes and incorporated into food products.  In addition to their legacy Adams branded products, they are a wet extract and dry spice plant, manufacturing for some of the nations most respected private label brands and legacy regional seasoning brands. Adams branded products are sold in the southeastern United States, with private label products sold nationally.  
 
Since its founding and creation of Adams Best Vanilla in in 1888, Adams has continued to be a staple in the flavors, extracts, and spices industry, with their legacy brands transcending through generations, recessions, and economic growth cycles. As the author of the first Red Velvet Cake recipe and designer of the first 4-pack food coloring product, Adams has been innovating and disrupting the food ingredient space for decades. Since the time of our initial investment, the Company accomplished some monumental changes, including, but not limited to, the following:

• Hired a new CEO
• Hired a new VP of Sales
• Hired a new VP of Manufacturing
• Hired a new VP of Finance
• Expanded manufacturing capacity by 300% through investments in an additional 30,000 sq ft worth of warehouse space and 8 new high speed and automated production lines
• Selected and integrated a new ERP system across all business units
• Grew sales by 190% and EBITDA by 252%

All the credit for these accomplishments goes to the best-in-class management team at Adams who worked with Valesco to manage implementation and operational challenges, a worldwide pandemic, and unprecedented supply chain challenges during the investment period. We could not be happier with the partnership and friendship we have built with this Company and its people and wish them nothing but success in their future endeavor.
 
The Company was advised by Boxwood Partners, a boutique investment bank based in Jupiter, Florida with offices in Richmond, Virginia. Haynes Boones served as legal advisor to the Company. The buyer group included institutional investors lead by Midwest Growth Partners, Brookside Mezzanine, Deason Capital, and Valesco Fund II.