Benestar Brands (Highlander Partners) Acquires 4505 Meats

Palmex and Benestar Brands Merge; Wind Point Majority, Highlander Retains Minority; Pretzilla Spun Out

December 11, 2023

Food & Beverage

Wind Point Partners’ portfolio company Palmex has merged with Highlander Partners’ portfolio company Benestar Brands to form a combined North American salty-snack platform, with Wind Point as the majority shareholder and Highlander retaining a significant minority stake. Pretzilla, Benestar’s pretzel bread business, was spun out as a standalone entity owned by Highlander and Pretzilla management; the combined business will be led by Jose Luis Prado and will operate eight facilities with more than 1,400 employees.

Catalent Acquires Bettera Brands from Highlander Partners for $1 Billion

August 30, 2021

Food & Beverage

Catalent, Inc. agreed to acquire Bettera Holdings, LLC (Bettera Brands) from Highlander Partners for $1 billion. The acquisition expands Catalent's consumer health and nutraceutical manufacturing capabilities—adding Bettera's gummy, soft chew, and lozenge production capacity and approximately 500 employees across four U.S. facilities.

Bettera Brands (Highlander Partners) Acquires Nutravail

September 14, 2020

Food & Beverage

Bettera Brands, a portfolio company of Highlander Partners, acquired substantially all of the assets of Nutravail, a Chantilly, Virginia-based developer and manufacturer of soft chew nutraceuticals. The acquisition expands Bettera's confectionary delivery capabilities (gummies, lozenges and chewables) and is intended to accelerate cross-selling, product development and manufacturing capacity for wellness brands.

Benestar Brands (Highlander Portfolio Company) Acquires Arboleda Foods (Chicas)

December 3, 2019

Food & Beverage

Benestar Brands, a Highlander Partners portfolio company, has acquired Arboleda Foods, the holding company behind the Chicas branded tortilla chips. The acquisition will allow Benestar to add the Chicas brand to its salty snacks platform and leverage its distribution network to grow the brand nationally.

Highlander Partners / Benestar Brands Acquires Evans Food Group from Wind Point Partners

August 5, 2019

Food & Beverage

Highlander Partners, through its newly-formed food platform Benestar Brands, acquired Evans Food Group from Wind Point Partners. Evans is a leading global producer of branded and private-label pork rinds with six production facilities (five in the U.S. and one in Mexico); Highlander intends to use Benestar as a buy-and-build platform in the snack food category.

Encore Consumer Capital Invests in 4505 Meats

April 8, 2019

Food & Beverage

San Francisco-based private equity firm Encore Consumer Capital has made a significant investment in 4505 Meats, the artisanal pork rind and snack-food producer founded by chef Ryan Farr. The capital will be used to support 4505 Meats' innovation pipeline and to scale distribution with national retailers.