Private Equity Pro | February 10, 2021
Highview Capital has acquired Randall Farms, a provider of poultry and meat products.
Randall Farms’ products include tray packed and marinated chicken, beef and pork. Tray packed chicken is the company’s largest tonnage product. Randall’s supermarket and grocery customers are located throughout California, the Pacific Northwest, Arizona, Texas, Nevada and New Mexico.
Randall Farms was founded in 1952 by Sid Bloom to supply poultry to supermarkets in Fontana, California. Highview purchased the company from the family of Stan Bloom, the son of the founder.
“My family founded Randall Farms in 1952 as a small poultry farm raising chickens to sell to local supermarkets,” said Mr. Bloom. “I’m so proud of all of our team’s hard work and how far we’ve come to become an established partner of choice to grocery stores looking for affordable, value-added protein offerings. As the company sits on the cusp of its next phase of growth, we are thrilled to have found a new owner in Highview that strongly believes in the business and has the tools necessary to take it to the next level.”
Today, Randall Farms is led by President Ron Totin and has nearly 500 employees with a headquarters near Los Angeles in Vernon, California.
Highview has ample experience in the food sector. In October 2019, it partnered with Alvarez & Marsal to form GS Foods Group to acquire Los Angeles-based Gold Star Foods, a food distributor to more than 3,500 K-12 schools across 13 states, from Castle Harlan. As part of this transaction, Highview merged Good Source Solutions, a San Diego-based specialty food distributor that it acquired in July 2018, into GS Foods. In January 2021, GS Foods completed the add-on acquisition of Fresno Produce, a distributor of fruits and vegetables, spices, salsa and guacamole to schools and restaurants in California’s Central Valley.
“We have long admired the Randall business and its rich, customer-centric heritage,” said Steve Russell, a senior portfolio manager at Highview. “The company has deftly navigated the ongoing pandemic, continuing to deliver excellent customer service while keeping its employee base safe. This is clearly a special company, and we look forward to working with Randall’s leadership team to invest in the business for the future while honoring its outstanding legacy.”
Highview Capital, headquartered in Los Angeles, invests from $10 million to $125 million of equity in companies with revenues of $50 million to $500 million and EBITDA of $5 million to $50 million. Highview invests in many sectors and is effectively industry agnostic. The firm sources its capital from a $500 million evergreen fund and is backed by Karlin Asset Management, a Los Angeles-based investment company.