NEW YORK and FULLERTON, Calif. — Investcorp, a leading global alternative investment firm, today announced its acquisition of a majority stake in Sunrise Produce (“Sunrise,” or “the Company”), a leading wholesale produce distribution company based in Southern California. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Founded in 1991 by Paul Carone, and headquartered in Fullerton, California, Sunrise provides customers across the specialty and white tablecloth restaurant and resort, education, healthcare and retail sectors with the freshest produce and perishable foods available. Today, Sunrise serves a diversified base of over 2,000 accounts, distributing products from a comprehensive regional supplier network across the western United States. The transaction is expected to fuel Sunrise’s future growth and provide meaningful opportunities for expansion and future acquisitions.
Sunrise is led by President and Chief Executive Officer David Sapia, an industry veteran with over 35 years of food distribution industry experience. Mr. Sapia joined Sunrise in 1998, partnering with founder Paul Carone to continue to build the company, and leading to significant expansion and revenue growth across sectors among both new and existing customers. Mr. Sapia remains a significant shareholder in the Company.
“We are extremely excited about this pivotal moment for our thriving company,” said Mr. Sapia. “Investcorp’s business acumen and resources make them an ideal partner to help fuel our next phase of growth and help us continue to serve our expanding roster of diverse customers with the quality and personal service that they’ve grown accustomed to from Sunrise.”
In addition, the Company announced that Paul Carone, Founder of Sunrise, is retiring. “I am truly grateful for the incredible partnership that Paul and I have built over decades of working together to grow Sunrise Produce. Our team is certain that this new relationship with Investcorp will allow us to continue to build on Sunrise’s exceptional foundation,” added Mr. Sapia.
Investcorp has a long history of investing across sectors with notable recent portfolio investments in food logistics and distribution including Fortune Fish & Gourmet, S&S Truck Parts, KSI Auto Parts, Arrowhead Engineered Products and Berlin Packaging.
“Fresh produce distribution is a highly fragmented, $70 billion national market that has consistently shown resiliency through economic cycles,” said Amit Gaind, Managing Director at Investcorp. “David and the Sunrise team have built a special, passionate culture that consistently thrills its customers with outstanding service. Their model and disciplined approach has propelled them to exceptional, industry-leading growth. We look forward to our partnership and to helping the Company accelerate its growth through geographic expansion and acquisitions.”
About Sunrise Produce
Sunrise Produce is recognized as a leading wholesale produce distribution company in Southern California, providing customers across the specialty and white tablecloth restaurant and resort, education, healthcare and retail sectors with the freshest produce and perishable foods available. For more than three decades, Sunrise Produce has fostered lasting relationships with the most reputable growers in the industry, ranging from wholesale commodity growers, organic growers, and local family farmers supporting local sustainable growth. Through deep industry knowledge, a passionate work ethic and customized approach, Sunrise Produce delivers a diversified product offering with the strongest levels of quality, service and value to its customers.
About Investcorp
Investcorp is a global investment manager, specializing in alternative investments across private equity, real estate, credit, absolute return strategies, GP stakes, infrastructure, and insurance asset management. Since our inception in 1982, we have focused on generating attractive returns for our clients while creating long-term value in our investee companies and for our shareholders as a prudent and responsible investor.
We invest a meaningful portion of our own capital in products we offer to our clients, ensuring that our interests are aligned with our stakeholders, including the communities that we operate within, towards driving sustainable value creation. We take pride in partnering with our clients to deliver tailored solutions for their needs, utilizing a disciplined investment process, employing world-class talent and combining the resources of a global institution with an innovative, entrepreneurial approach. In January 2022, Investcorp issued its 2021 Responsible Business Report which outlines its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) highlights for 2021 and specific initiatives the Firm implemented to meet its goals: https://www.investcorp.com/esg/.
Investcorp has today 13 offices across the US, Europe, GCC and Asia, including India, China and Singapore. As of June 30, 2022, Investcorp Group had US $42.7 billion in total AUM, including assets managed by third party managers, and employed approximately 480 people from 50 nationalities globally across its offices.
For further information, visit www.investcorp.com and follow us @Investcorp on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.