Sun Orchard, a juice and beverage products producer, announced the acquisition of certain assets of Blue Lake Citrus Products LLC in Winter Haven FL. Blue Lake was previously held by the Seminole Tribe of Florida Inc (STOFI) and William G Roe & Sons Inc.
Assets being acquired include the Blue Lake product portfolio, currently offered under the Noble juice brand, and certain manufacturing equipment. Blue Lake has a retail customer base with some of the largest supermarkets and grocery stores including Publix Super Markets, Ahold, ACME Markets, Giant Eagle Supermarket and Whole Foods Market. The opportunity to forge long-term relationships with this portfolio of retail customers supports Sun Orchard’s plan to further its presence in its retail markets. The acquisition will also enhance Sun Orchard’s current distribution to grocery stores, supermarkets and other third-party retailers.
Sun Orchard is a Centre Partners portfolio company. Cross Keys Capital represented Blue Lake in this transaction. Terms of the transaction were not announced.
Founded in 1984, Sun Orchard has leveraged its roots in citrus juices (orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit) to develop an expanding portfolio of standard and customized beverages and culinary ingredients. The company’s product portfolio consists of 100% natural, not-from-concentrate citrus juices, fruit ades, bar mixes, specialty smoothie bases, and other customizable mixology and culinary solutions. Sun Orchard is headquartered in Miami FL, and has a strategic bi-coastal production platform with facilities in Arizona and Florida.
Learn more at www.SunOrchard.com.
STOFI is a federal corporation whose charter’s specific purpose is “to further the economic development of the Seminole Tribe of Florida by conferring certain corporate rights, powers, privileges and immunity; to secure for the members an assured economic independence; and to provide for the proper exercise by the tribe of various functions heretofore performed by the Department of Interior.”
On its website, STOFI provides some background on its origin:
In the early 1950s, the federal government decided to act upon a policy of terminating American Indian tribes and assimilating tribal members into the mainstream US population. This disturbed the Seminole people. Several tribal members went to Washington DC and met with federal officials. The tribe was not ready to release the government from its obligation of services to the people.
The tribe asked the federal government for ten more years to develop an economic base for greater self-sufficiency. The Indian Reorganization Act allowed Indian Tribes to govern themselves as federal corporations. A corporate charter was prepared. The majority of the tribal members living on the reservation approved the charter; thus, the Seminole Tribe of Florida Inc was officially formed.
William G Roe & Sons and its parent company, Noble Produce Holdings, harvests, packs and markets fresh tangerines, oranges, tangelos, pomelos and blueberries. Based in Winter Haven FL, Roe is a provider of fresh tangerines and tangerine juices, sold coast-to-coast.
Go to www.NobleCitrus.com for more details.
