Flowers Foods’ acquisition of Alpine Valley Bread Company
Selected as Deal of the Year for 2015
Award Recognizes a Transaction that involved an Arizona company or private equity firm that occurred in 2015 that had significant business impact in Arizona
PHOENIX, Arizona (May 11, 2016) — The $120 million purchase of Mesa-based Alpine Valley Bread Company by Flowers Foods has been selected as the 2015 Deal of the Year Award by the Association for Corporate Growth-Arizona Chapter.
The “Deal of the Year” is an award given by the Arizona Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) to recognize a company or private equity firm for their accomplishments regarding a merger, acquisition or capital market transaction. The award recognizes a deal/transaction in the Arizona marketplace involving established businesses with between $10 million and $750 million of revenue that closed in calendar year 2015.
The Deal of the Year Award was given Tuesday night at a dinner at the Arizona Biltmore.
Sierra Nevada’s acquisition of Kutta Technologies and Frontier Capital’s investment in HealthiestYou were the runners-up for the award.
“We are pleased to be able to recognize this transaction and the positive impact it had on Arizona’s economy,” said John Prenzno, Board President for ACG Arizona. “We would like to congratulate the team behind this purchase for their hard work and for creating a transaction that will enable future growth for Flowers Foods.”
Alpine Valley Bread Company manufactured more than 30 kinds of organic bread out of its Mesa facility, and was one of the fastest growing organic bread companies in the United States. Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO) has annual sales of $3.8 billion and 49 plants across the country.
Bruce Black of IBG/Fox & Fin, the M&A firm that helped broker the transaction, said the team was honored to be recognized for the significance of the transaction.
“We are honored and humbled to have IBG/Fox & Fin’s transaction on behalf of Alpine Valley Bread chosen as ACG’s 2015 Deal of the Year,” Black said. “We know the competition was strong for this honor as there were a number of important M&A transactions you considered, each with some outstanding characteristics. The members of the ACG organization are community leaders, so your selection of the acquisition of Alpine Valley Bread by Flowers Foods was especially meaningful.”
The award criteria for the Deal of the Year included:
- Deal-making that either created or demonstrates a real potential for substantial return on investment
- Deal-making that evidences the unlocking of value and/or contribution to the strategic development of the business
- Deal-making that produces a wider business impact, such as the development of new markets, products, services and/or technologies and the creation or retention of quality employment opportunities in Arizona
- Deal-making that reflects a high level of professional expertise in the design of the transaction and tested creativity and deal-making skills in completing the transaction
- At least one company involved in the transaction must be headquartered or have a majority of its operations in Arizona
Founded in 1954, the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) is a global association for professionals involved in corporate growth, corporate development, and mergers and acquisitions. Today ACG stands at more than 14,000 members from corporations, private equity, finance, and professional service firms representing Fortune 500, Fortune 1000, FTSE 100, and mid-market companies in 56 chapters in North America, Europe, and Asia. The Arizona chapter of ACG includes representatives from corporate investment and private equity groups, financiers, venture capitalists and supporting consultant services. For more information, visit www.acg.org/arizona.
