Arbor Investments (“Arbor”), a specialized private equity firm focused on investing in the food and beverage industry, announced today the final closing of its sixth equity fund, Arbor Investments VI, L.P. and its parallel fund, Arbor Investments VI-A, L.P. (together, “Fund VI”), with over $1.2 billion of capital commitments.
Gregory Purcell, Arbor founder and Chairman, commented, “We are humbled by the commitments from our longtime limited partners and welcome new investors who have entrusted Arbor with their capital. The closing of Arbor Fund VI during this unique fundraising environment is an endorsement of the incredible team we’ve built and the highly differentiated strategy we’ve refined over the last 26 years that we’ve been investing in the food industry.”
Concurrently with the closing, Arbor Fund VI is recapitalizing Rubix Foods (“Rubix” or “the Company”, formerly known as Darifair Foods), a leading culinary and food science-focused provider of innovative flavor and functional ingredients to restaurants and food manufacturers. Rubix Foods has been owned by Arbor Fund IV and the Block family since 2019. Both Arbor Fund IV and the Block family are selling the entirety of their ownership interests to Arbor Fund VI in this transaction.
Six years ago, Arbor partnered with the fourth generation of the Block family, led by CEO Andy Block, with a vision to become an epicenter for truly innovative flavor technology. Since then, Arbor and Rubix executed a major strategic transformation with significant investments in people, facilities, brand, R&D infrastructure and new product development capabilities. As a result, Rubix achieved hyper growth with adjusted EBITDA nearly doubling from new customer wins, the creation of numerous first-of-their-kind food technologies and the launch of award-winning new products.
Arbor expects that this recapitalization will position Rubix to continue its robust growth trajectory while serving as the “innovation engine” behind some of the most popular food and beverage flavors. The transaction will also be a liquidity event for the Block family and Arbor Fund IV investors.
“The Block family – Andy, Bill and Jeffrey – have been fantastic and we thank them for their partnership,” said Arbor co-CEO Carl Allegretti. “The blueprint for Arbor’s most successful investments consists of partnering with exceptional family owners and entrepreneurs and bringing our differentiated team and resources to turbocharge growth. And we did just that. This transaction represents a crowning achievement for the Block family.”
“We enjoyed an outstanding run with Arbor,” commented Andy Block. “Their strategic support was instrumental in accelerating our company’s growth and expansion. At their core, the Arbor team are entrepreneurs and their likeminded, ‘roll up your sleeves’ mentality made them the ideal partner for our family and Rubix Foods over the last six years.”
Rubix President Midd McManus along with the Company’s current senior leadership will continue in their roles leading the business.
“We love this business,” commented Arbor Principal Scott Farmer. “We’ve always had high conviction for Rubix’s investment merits and we are thrilled to continue our ownership of the Company in Arbor’s newest fund. Rubix is well-positioned to continue its track record of industry outperformance and we look forward to supporting the Rubix team as they grow the Company for years to come.”
Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Winston & Strawn LLP served as legal counsel on the Rubix Foods transaction.
Shannon Advisors acted as placement agent for Arbor Fund VI, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as fund legal counsel.
