Wind Point Partners Announces Sale Of Pestell Nutrition To Barentz International

Chicago, IL, June 30, 2021 – Wind Point Partners (“Wind Point”), a Chicago-based private equity firm, announced today it has entered into an agreement to sell portfolio company Pestell Nutrition (the “Company”) to Barentz International (“Barentz”). The transaction is expected to close in the Third Quarter of 2021, subject to the completion of specified closing conditions, including receipt of customary merger control clearances.

Pestell Nutrition, based in New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada, is a prominent distributor of feed additives, nutritional ingredients, macro and trace minerals and pet specialty ingredients for the animal health, animal nutrition and pet food sectors across Canada and the U.S. Over 20 warehouses and transloading facilities located throughout North America support the Company’s leading distribution capabilities. 

Wind Point acquired Pestell Nutrition in 2018 via the firm’s acquisition of Pestell Group from founder Don Pestell. At the time, Pestell Nutrition was one of two business units within Pestell Group, along with a pet products business. The foundation of Wind Point’s value creation plan for Pestell Group was to rebrand and separate both business units and build independent leadership teams to pursue distinctive growth strategies. Shortly after acquiring Pestell Group, Wind Point successfully separated the business units, rebranding the minerals and ingredients business as Pestell Nutrition and the pet products division as Targeted PetCare. Both businesses have been fundamentally transformed under Wind Point’s ownership, with Targeted PetCare remaining within the firm’s investment portfolio.   

Wind Point’s value creation for Pestell Nutrition was built upon a vision to consolidate a market with minimal private equity activity, while building a platform with broad geographic reach and a higher value portfolio of products enabled by technical selling capabilities. Critical to the execution of the strategy was the addition of Jerry Vergeer as CEO in 2019 at the time of the separation from Pestell Group. As the former COO of Animal Nutrition at Nutreco N.V., Mr. Vergeer added considerable commercial skills, customer relationships and M&A experience. Under Wind Point’s ownership and Mr. Vergeer’s leadership, Pestell Nutrition grew approximately 3x in scale through a combination of organic growth initiatives and three strategic acquisitions. The Company has been transformed from a regional commodity feed ingredients distributor to a value-add partner offering more technical feed additives across North America, with value-added feed additives and proprietary products growing from 4% to 42% of the Company’s product portfolio.

Paul Peterson, Managing Director at Wind Point, commented, “Pestell Nutrition is a great example of how Wind Point’s focus on partnering with a top caliber CEO and building a world-class management team can drive tremendous value for our investors. We have now built two high-quality businesses from the original Pestell Group acquisition and our success with Pestell Nutrition would not have been possible without the leadership of Jerry and his team, who executed our value creation plan in just three years. We wish them continued success in their new partnership with Barentz.”

Jerry Vergeer, CEO of Pestell Nutrition, noted, “I want to thank Wind Point and our board for their tremendous support over the last three years. The Pestell Nutrition team has built a world class business that is well-positioned to continue serving our customers, employees and all stakeholders. We very much look forward to continuing our momentum with Barentz as a partner.”

Hidde van der Wal, CEO of Barentz, stated, “Pestell Nutrition is a market leader with an outstanding management team. The Company’s commitment to exceptional quality and service aligns perfectly with our animal health ambitions. We are delighted to partner with Jerry and his team for the next chapter of Pestell Nutrition’s growth.”

Representing Pestell Nutrition in the transaction is Kirkland & Ellis as legal advisor and KeyBanc Capital Markets as financial advisor.