Illinois-based food manufacturing and packaging company sold to private equity firm

Crest Foods, an Illinois-based provider of food manufacturing, packaging and product development services to branded and private label customers, has been acquired by Harwood Private Equity.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Brown Gibbons Lang & Company, an independent investment bank and financial advisory firm focused on the global middle market, served as the financial advisor to Harwood, an investor in lower middle market companies, according to a news release.

Founded in 1946, Crest Food operates ingredients, contract packaging and consumer products business lines. The ingredients arm develops proprietary stabilizer formulations and recipes for dairy products including cottage cheese, cream cheese, yogurt, and dairy protein- and plant-based beverages.

The company also provides packaging services to branded and private-label dry food companies and specializes in outsource product development and turn-key manufacturing services for branded food companies, according to the release.

Harwood’s investment experience includes the food and beverage, life sciences, precision manufacturing, media and health care services industries.

BGL also facilitated a sale-leaseback of an affiliated 575,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art contract packaging, distribution and warehousing facility in Ashton, Illinois.