GTCR and Ceba-Tech Announce Strategic Investment in Flavor Producers

CHICAGO, Dec. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- GTCR, a leading private equity firm, announced today that it has made a strategic investment in Flavor Producers, Inc. ("FPI" or the "Company") through GTCR's portfolio company Ceba-Tech Specialty Solutions ("Ceba-Tech"), a partnership with CEO Charles Nicolais.

Founded in 1981 and headquartered in Valencia, California, FPI is a leading provider of flavors and extracts to the food & beverage industries, with a focus on organic and natural products. Over the past 35 years, FPI has developed an extensive library of proprietary flavors, a highly experienced R&D team with unique technical capabilities and an attractive facility network across California, Ohio and New Jersey. This platform enables the Company to quickly deliver complex formulations across a range of end-product applications and production quantities to a growing base of more than 500 emerging and multinational customers worldwide.

The Flavor Producers investment is another example of how GTCR executes The Leaders Strategy^®. In January 2017, GTCR partnered with Mr. Nicolais to create Ceba-Tech and build a market-leading platform in the specialty chemicals, materials and ingredients industry. Prior to partnering with GTCR, Mr. Nicolais most recently served as founder and Chief Executive Officer of SensoryEffects, a leading provider of specialty ingredients to the food and beverage industries. He significantly grew the business through organic growth and acquisitions, before completing a successful sale of the company.

Jeff Harris, CEO of FPI, said, "I am thrilled to partner with Charles Nicolais and GTCR. I believe their industry experience and resources can add significant value as we seek to grow organically and through strategic acquisitions of proprietary capabilities and businesses."

"The Harris family and the broader FPI team have built a terrific company," said Charles Nicolais. "We are excited to invest in the business, further scale the platform and expand its capabilities to better serve our customers and drive enhanced growth."

"We look forward to the opportunity to partner with Charles and Jeff and to help them build FPI further," said GTCR Managing Director, Sean Cunningham. "The Company has an excellent track record of growth driven by a customer centric focus and high quality products, and we look forward to investing additional capital to support both organic initiatives and strategic follow-on acquisitions."

Dean Mihas, Managing Director at GTCR, added: "This investment demonstrates GTCR's continued commitment to finding ways to partner with leading entrepreneurs and management teams. We look forward to supporting Charles, Jeff and the FPI team in this next chapter of the Company's growth."

GTCR and Ceba-Tech's investment in Flavor Producers was funded from GTCR Fund XII, a private equity fund raised in 2017 with $5.25 billion of limited partner equity capital commitments. Kirkland & Ellis LLP provided legal counsel and PricewaterhouseCoopers served as accounting advisor to GTCR.

About GTCR

Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm focused on investing in growth companies in the Growth Business Services, Technology, Media & Telecommunications, Healthcare and Financial Services & Technology industries. The Chicago-based firm pioneered The Leaders Strategy™ - finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $15 billion in over 200 companies. For more information, please visit www.gtcr.com.

About Ceba-Tech Specialty Solutions

Ceba-Tech Specialty Solutions was formed in January 2017 as a partnership between Charles A. Nicolais and GTCR. Ceba-Tech aims to build a market-leading company in the specialty chemicals, materials and ingredients industry by acquiring businesses and assets in these areas. For more information about Ceba-Tech Specialty Solutions, please visit http://www.gtcr.com/investments/healthcare/?=company-ceba-tech-specialty-solutions.

About Flavor Producers

Founded in 1981 and headquartered in Valencia, California, Flavor Producers is a leading provider of custom flavors and extracts to over 500 customers across food, beverage, and nutraceutical industries, with a focus on organic and natural products. For more information, please visit http://www.flavorproducers.com/.

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Eileen Rochford 
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[email protected]

SOURCE GTCR

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