Noosa Finest Yoghurt, an Aussie-inspired rising star on the US yoghurt scene, has been acquired by global private equity investor, Advent International.
The Boulder, Colorado-based company - which is named after the Queensland town and bases its products on an Australian recipe - was founded in 2009 by Colorado natives, Koel Thomae and Robert Graves and Aussie ex-pats, Paul and Grant Mathewson.
Noosa's executive team remains in place and retains a “significant minority ownership” according to its new owner.
The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. According to Advent International, however, the company has experienced triple digit growth and expanded its footprint across 5,000 traditional and natural grocery retailers across the US.
Noosa, which is now available in 13 flavours, will also complete a $5 million expansion project in 2015 to upgrade existing equipment and keep up with increasing sales and distribution, Advent said.
“Noosa is a dynamic business with an exciting growth story,” said Jeff Case, a managing director at Advent.
“The company’s management team has done a great job establishing a market in North America for its flavourful yoghurt, and we see significant potential to further develop the business by extending its product line, increasing production capacity and expanding geographically.”
Advent is bringing two of its industry advisors to Noosa’s board of directors: Bill Johnson, most recently CEO of Heinz, who will be chairman, and Brad Alford, former CEO of Nestle USA.
Wade Groetsch, president and chief operating officer of Noosa said the company had undergone tremendous growth since 2010, and it welcomed the opportunity to work with Advent to maintain that momentum.
“We believe the company will benefit from Advent’s resources and expertise as we continue our mission to put more Noosa flavours on more grocery store shelves all over the country,” Groetsch said.
