Coast2Coast makes tasty acquistion

Cris Dillon, COO of C2C said, “Well-run companies with top class operations and a great product will always perform well, even in a difficult financial climate. As a low cost, popular fast food, pies are a wonderfully resilient product. St Pie is growing strongly, with over 20 percent growth in sales per annum, year-on-year for the last five years. This transaction is in line with our strategy of investing in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies in South Africa.”

Gary Shayne, CEO of C2C said, “The St Pie corporate culture and values are in line with those of Coast2Coast and we feel that this is a mutually beneficial transaction that has great potential.”

St Pie started fifteen years ago from a small café and today manufactures in a ‘state of the art’ foods plant in Lydenburg. It distributes 19 frozen pie variants to their growing database of over 1500 retailers who bake the pies and sell them to the public.

Wyk Geyser, managing director of St Pie is equally positive. “After successful negotiations and getting to know the C2C team, we’re ecstatic that we have found a partner who shares our values and can offer us the stability we’d like.

“The transition into the C2C group has gone extremely smoothly and we’re excited at the prospects of this new partnership. We can now continue to expand strongly and we feel extremely fortunate that despite the difficult times the economy is experiencing, we’re still able to enjoy the fruits of a flourishing business,” says Geyser.

The decision to invest in St Pie was based on the outcome of a thorough due diligence process and strong profitability and growth characteristics of the company. Coast2Coast generally invests in mature entrepreneurial businesses that have a minimum annual profit of R5-million, an annual turnover of at least R50-million, and St Pie comfortably fulfilled this criteria.

St Pie’s financial performance has not been adversely affected by the current gloomy economic climate and continues to expand strongly. “There is a good structure in place, sound business principles and a proven formula to ensure St Pie’s products pies are always of superior quality. In any financial environment, people have to eat and everyone enjoys good value.” Dillon concludes.

For more information on Coast2Coast visit www.coast2coast.co.za or www.stpie.co.za

Coast2Coast

I had a meeting with the guys from Coast2Coast this evening. They are an up and coming private equity firm which is actively seeking investments in South African Fast Moving Consumable Goods (FMCG) sector.

The company is looking for established businesses - preferably with a 10 to 15 year operating history and strong brands to take majority equity stakes in the business.

For further information please contact Cris Dillon or Gary Shayne on 021 701 2232 or visit www.coast2coast.co.za