Sturm Foods is a privately held company

Privately held company

A privately held company or close corporation is a business company owned either by non-governmental organizations or by a relatively small number of shareholders or company members which does not offer or trade its company stock to the general public on the stock market exchanges, but rather the...

 that manufactures dry groceries under private label brands

Private label

Private label products or services are typically those manufactured or provided by one company for offer under another company's brand. Private label goods and services are available in a wide range of industries from food to cosmetics to web hosting...

 and distributes them to the foodservice industry

Foodservice

Food Service or catering industry defines those businesses, institutions, and companies responsible for any meal prepared outside the home...

 and grocery

Grocery store

A grocery store is a store that retails food. A grocer, the owner of a grocery store, stocks different kinds of foods from assorted places and cultures, and sells these "groceries" to customers. Large grocery stores that stock products other than food, such as clothing or household items, are...

 suppliers throughout the world.

History

Sturm Foods' origin was a dairy farm operation begun in 1905 by Arthur Sturm and his four sons. The boys began buying eggs from local farmers and shipping them to relatives in Chicago for sale there. This small business eventually expanded into other commodities during the 1930s, such as sugar, seed, twine, potatoes, flour, coal and gasoline. World War II helped increase the business, at that point known as A. Sturm & Sons. The company began manufactured- for the first time- bulk amounts of dried food products, such as eggs and powdered milk

Powdered milk

Powdered milk is a manufactured dairy product made by evaporating milk to dryness. One purpose of drying milk is to preserve it; milk powder has a far longer shelf life than liquid milk and does not need to be refrigerated, due to its low moisture content. Another purpose is to reduce its bulk for...

, to be delivered to American servicemen on the battle fronts. The company entered the private label distribution market in the early 1970s and continues this business model to the current day. The business flourished throughout the eighties and nineties with a broadening product line and employment increasing from 150 to 500 employees. In May 2005, Sturm Foods was acquired by the LLC

Limited liability company

A limited liability company is a flexible form of enterprise that blends elements of partnership and corporate structures. It is a legal form of company that provides limited liability to its owners in the vast majority of United States jurisdictions...

 and private equity

Private equity

Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....

 firm HM Capital Partners

HM Capital

HM Capital Partners is a private equity firm in the United States that specializes in leveraged buyouts. The firm, previously known as Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, was one of the largest financial sponsors of the 1990s. The firm was founded in 1989 by Tom Hicks and John Muse as Hicks, Muse & Co...

. This new relationship has strengthened Sturm Foods' position in the marketplace and provided a stepping-stone to continued growth and success.

Monday, December 1, 2009 HM Capital announced that Sturm Foods was sold to Treehouse Foods for approximately $660 million. The purchase price is made up of $400m in new debt issuance, $100m in equity stock, with the remainder funded by TreeHouse’s existing revolving credit

Revolving credit

Revolving credit is a type of credit that does not have a fixed number of payments, in contrast to installment credit. Examples of revolving credits used by consumers include credit cards. Corporate revolving credit facilities are typically used to provide liquidity for a company's day-to-day...

facility. With this purchase the US soup-to-salad dressings firm has made a move to further expand its dry grocery offerings. For the 12 months leading to September 30, 2009 Sturm generated sales of $340m. Following the acquisition, TreeHouse has estimated that it will have pro-forma sales of around $1.9bn and adjusted EBITDA of over $275m. The company also expects the transaction to be more than 16% accretive on an annualised basis following the acquisition, adding $0.38 to $0.40 in earnings per share