Florida Food Products (FFP) is to acquire Comax Manufacturing Corporation (Comax), a provider of clean label flavor solutions focused on the beverage & nutrition markets.
Under the stewardship of the Calabretta family, Comax has grown to become one of the largest providers of clean label flavors in the U.S. since its founding in 1977. Comax
formulates natural ingredients that replace synthetic flavors and maintains a portfolio of nearly 1,000 natural flavor SKUs.
As part of the FFP family, Comax will continue to operate its Melville, NY R&D and
manufacturing facility, and develop formulations in its Marlton, NJ R&D facility. The
Calabretta family will maintain an equity position in the combined business.
FFP is a leader in clean label food and beverage natural ingredient solutions.
“We are thrilled to welcome Comax to the FFP family. Comax has built an impressive portfolio of natural flavors, which we intend to augment with FFP’s industry leading clean label, natural ingredient capabilities”, said FFP’s CEO Jim Holdrieth.
“Our acquisition of Comax represents our first major investment of the Ardian and MidOcean partnership, and accelerates our objective of becoming the industry’s largest independent provider of natural ingredients across all food and beverage segments.”
Peter Calabretta Jr., Comax’s CEO, said: “Comax is the result of 40+ years of dedication to our craft and the hard work of hundreds of our colleagues. We are incredibly proud of the business that we have built and our confident that the Comax legacy will live on as part of the FFP family.
“We are excited to partner with the FFP, Ardian, and MidOcean teams, who share our belief that natural ingredients provide consumers with healthier options while offering our customers high-quality alternatives to traditional, synthetic ingredients.
“This partnership gives Comax access to new technologies, ingredients, and distribution that will accelerate the existing Comax business and provide more solutions and capabilities for our valued customers.”
Weil acted as legal advisor to Florida Food Products, Ardian, and MidOcean. Houlihan Lokey acted as exclusive financial advisor to the Calabretta family.