Firm acquires Sunny Delight

Blue Ash's Sunny Delight Beverages Co. is being sold to a Greenwich, Connecticut private equity firm for an undisclosed sum.

The new owner, Brynwood Partners VII L.P, also owns the Harvest Hill Beverage Co., which markets Juicy Juice products, the Hug juice brand and Daily’s Cocktails brand. Regulatory approval is pending.

Sunny Delight ranked 25th on the 2015 Deloitte Cincinnati USA 100 list of the largest privately held companies in the Cincinnati region. It had 2014 revenues of $457 million and 535 employees. Blue Ash hosts Sunny Delight's headquarters, as well as research and development labs.

A Boston private equity firm, J. W. Child Associates, has owned Sunny Delight since 2004. It bought the brand from Procter & Gamble and established it as a stand-alone company.

Sunny Delight Beverages Co. is a leading producer, distributor and marketer of juices, juice drinks and flavored waters in North America. Besides its namesake brand, it makes Veryfine juices and drinks, and Fruit2O flavored and sparkling flavored waters. The company operates four plants across the U.S. that supply a wide range of customers in the grocery, club, mass merchandise, convenience, dollar and drug channels.

“We are pleased that Brynwood VII has agreed to acquire Sunny Delight," said Sunny Delight's CEO Billy Cyr in a news release. “Our team looks forward to working collaboratively with Brynwood VII’s management as we develop a detailed business plan for implementation following regulatory approval, which is expected in the first quarter of 2016."

Cyr said Brynwood has indicated that it intends to keep Sunny Delight as a stand-alone company and has not outlined any major changes.

Cyr said J.W. Childs' 11-year investment in Sunny Delight was longer than its typical three to seven years. He said Boston firm reaped a "good return" on their investment, but declined to elaborate.

The new owners did not disclose their plans for Sunny Delight. But Brynwood formed Harvest Hill Beverage Co. last year to acquire the Juicy Juice brand from Nestle and has said company intends to grow both organically and through strategic add-on acquisitions.

In March, Harvest Hill acquired American Beverage Corp., which added the Hug juice brand and Daily’s Cocktails brand.

“We are pleased to announce the acquisition of Sunny Delight,” said Henk Hartong III, chairman and CEO of Brynwood. “The iconic Sunny Delight brand, with its highly recognizable bottle design, has a loyal customer following and is an important brand for retailers in the U.S. and Canada. We are also excited about the company’s four manufacturing facilities as they provide Sunny Delight with significant manufacturing flexibility to provide our retail partners with new, innovative products in a timely manner.”