CIC Partners Announces the Creation of River Point Farms

CIC Partners and River Point Farms are proud to announce the creation of America’s leading onion company. The new River Point Farms was created by the merger of American Onion, Inc. and Rivergate Farms, LLC, with a major interest purchased by Dallas-based CIC Partners, a premier mid-market private equity firm. This transaction makes River Point Farms America’s largest grower and processor of yellow, red and sweet onions, producing over 400 million pounds of onions this year.

“We’re unique in that we design production around our customers needs, not the other way around,” said Robert Hale, President of River Point Farms.

“We ask the customer what they want before we decide what to plant, and then we control the process from seed to sandwich. This customer-first philosophy has helped us grow the family farm into the largest, most consistent and most reliable onion supplier in America,” Hale continued.

With state-of-the-art growing and storage techniques, the new River Point Farms provides a year-round supply of whole and processed onions to a diversified customer base in the foodservice, restaurant and retail industries, including Sysco, Del Monte, Safeway, Costco, Kroger, Subway, Pizza Hut and McDonald’s. River Point Farms focuses on customers who require the scale, sophistication and expertise of a value-added supplier.

“This will be a seamless transition for our customers, but the resources of the new company will enable us to grow and ship onions 365 days per year,” said Joe Graziano, who will serve on the River Point Farms Board of Directors.

River Point Farms will operate the existing Rivergate and American Onion farms from Oregon to Chile, and will ship onions using the packing and processing capabilities already available at these facilities. The company will be headquartered in Hermiston, Oregon in the heart of the fertile Columbia Basin region where the soil and climate are ideal for growing premium, quality onions.

River Point Farms combines the experience, assets and customer base of two powerhouse onion producers, with a significant investment by CIC Partners whose investors/partners include former high-level executives at Pizza Hut, Frito-Lay and CTI Foods, who will serve on the Board of Directors of the new River Point Farms. The owners and management teams at both American Onion and Rivergate Farms will stay in place and continue to oversee day-to-day operations of farms and facilities.

“By combining two successful onion companies, we’ve created the world’s leading onion company, River Point Farms,” said Michael Rawlings, Managing Partner of CIC Partners. “We are excited by the opportunity to help this first-class produce company expand to better serve existing and new clients.”

Emporia Capital, an asset management and lending firm, provided debt financing for River Point Farms.



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