Advent International, a Boston, Mass.-based global private equity investor, and its newly formed company Sovos Brands, San Francisco, completed the acquisition of Michael Angelo's Gourmet Foods Inc., an Austin, Texas-based producer of premium, authentic frozen Italian entrées.

Michael Angelo's is the first investment by Sovos Brands, a new type of food and beverage company that seeks to acquire and build one-of-a-kind brands to establish a scale player in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry.

"Michael Angelo's is a highly authentic, great-tasting, frozen Italian entrée brand well respected in the industry for its clean-label offering," says Todd Lachman, president and CEO of Sovos Brands. "The company exemplifies the types of businesses we are looking to acquire in the food and beverage space. It is a unique, leading branded player offering delicious food that meets today's lifestyle and consumer demand for real, clean ingredients. We believe Michael Angelo's has significant potential for growth through increased awareness, distribution and new product development, and we look forward to working with Michael Angelo and the management team to pursue these opportunities."

"Our new partnership with Sovos Brands represents a perfect fit for our company,” adds Michael Angelo, chairman and CEO of Michael Angelo's Gourmet Foods. “Sovos Brands is a lean, nimble organization led by experienced industry executives who share our long-term vision for the business. With their investments in production, distribution and product innovation, we believe we can accelerate Michael Angelo's growth and continue our mission of creating the highest-quality Italian entrées in the freezer aisle. I look forward to partnering with Todd Lachman and his team on Michael Angelo's next stage of development."

"The acquisition of Michael Angelo's is an important first step in our plan to build a food and beverage company of significant scale. Advent and the team at Sovos Brands will focus on supporting Michael Angelo's expansion while pursuing acquisitions of other high-potential businesses from founders, financial sponsors and large CPG companies," says David Roberts, a principal at Advent International.