Clearlake to buy bakery solutions manufacturer and distributor BakeMark

Clearlake Capital Group, together with certain affiliates, has agreed to acquire bakery company BakeMark USA from Pamplona Capital Management.

Headquartered in Pico Rivera, California, BakeMark is a manufacturer and distributor of bakery ingredients, products and supplies.

Operating five manufacturing sites and 29 distribution centres across North America, BakeMark supplies customers in the retail bakery, in-store bakery, wholesale bakery and foodservice channels.

In addition to manufacturing products, BakeMark also provides resale ingredients, with offerings including bakery mixes, fillings, glazes and icings.

The company is the exclusive distributor of brands such as Westco, BakeSense, Best Brands, Multifoods, BakeQwik, Trigal Dorado, C’est Vivant and Sprinkelina.

“We are thrilled to partner with BakeMark and support the company in its next stage of accelerated growth,” said José Feliciano, Clearlake co-founder and managing partner, and Arta Tabaee, managing director at Clearlake.

“We believe long-term market tailwinds, including increased focus on supply chain simplification and growing demand for ethnic and speciality bakery products, offer a unique opportunity to invest behind a category leader like BakeMark. We are eager to support the management team and bring together all of Clearlake’s available resources to drive value creation, accelerate organic growth and create an industry consolidation platform.”

William Pruellage, co-managing partner at Pamplona, which acquired the BakeMark business from CSM Bakery Solutions in 2017, said: “It has been an absolute pleasure working with Jim and his team to establish BakeMark as an independent platform and to aggressively grow the business into the clear market leader in the bakery distribution space through both organic initiatives and add-on acquisitions.”

The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.