Premium Brands Holdings Corp., Canada, completed the following three transactions:

• The acquisition of a 100% interest in Buddy's Kitchen Inc., Burnsville, Minn., from its founding family and management;
• The acquisition of a 100% interest in Raybern Foods, San Ramon, Calif., from TSG Consumer Partners, management and other shareholders; and
• The purchase of a 50% interest in Shaw Bakers, San Francisco.

Buddy's Kitchen is a manufacturer of sandwiches and other prepared meal solutions for a variety of customers in the airline and convenience store channels. It operates two modern production facilities in the Minneapolis area, one of which is 91,000 square feet and the other 62,000 square feet.

Raybern's is a manufacturer of branded specialty sandwiches and refrigerated and frozen sandwiches and wraps for the U.S. retail market and operates a modern 146,000-square-foot facility in Tupelo, Miss.  

Shaw Bakers is a manufacturer and distributor of fresh and frozen artisan breads as well as a range of sweet and savory pastries, operates a 67,600-square-foot facility in the greater San Francisco area.

"Buddy's and Raybern's greatly complement our existing businesses as well as each other," says Steve Sposari, president of Premium Brands' North American Sandwich Group. "With Buddy's, we gain a new line of unique and innovative products, a very flexible production platform with excess capacity and significantly improved access to the U.S. convenience store and airline segments. Raybern's provides us with one of the leading premium sandwich brands in the U.S., and will enable us to further strengthen and expand our reach in the U.S. retail channel. I have admired both companies for many years, and I am honored to have the opportunity to work with their respective talented management teams. Also, I know all three teams are very excited about working together to leverage each other's strengths, as well as Premium Brands' resources, to strengthen their respective businesses."

"These transactions both diversify and greatly enhance our sandwich platform's growth opportunities and move it significantly closer to its objective of becoming North America's leading sandwich manufacturer," says George Paleologou, president and CEO of Premium Brands.

"We are very excited to be joining the Premium Brands family," adds Dave Smith, president and CEO of Buddy's Kitchen. "I am very confident that we are partnering with the right company and that Steve and his group, as well as Premium Brands, share our core values and our long term vision for Buddy's." 

"As a leader in the specialty food space, Premium Brands represents an ideal partner for Raybern's," says Rob Leibowitz, chief executive officer of Raybern's. "We're proud of everything Raybern's has accomplished over the last few years, including expanding our innovative sandwich offerings, redesigning our packaging, diversifying and growing our customer base and building a best-in-class manufacturing platform to enhance our operations. We look forward to building on this success, as Raybern's becomes part of the Premium Brands family."

"We are delighted to announce our partnership with San Francisco-based Shaw Bakers and its talented founders Nicolas Bernadi and Pascal Rigo. They are two of the most innovative, progressive and driven entrepreneurs in the food industry. We look forward to working with them to build scale around their portfolio of innovative food products and help them take advantage of a variety of exciting growth opportunities in the specialty food space," adds Paleologou.