Wind Point Recaps Hearthside For $400M

Wind Point Partners is taking a dividend for its investors from its $400 million recapitalization of Hearthside Food Solutions, a contract bakery company in Downers Grove, Ill., that it acquired in April 2009.

The transaction was announced by GE Antares, the Chicago-based leveraged finance arm of of GE Capital, which agented the senior credit facility. The financing included a $340 million term loan, a $30 million delayed draw term loan, and a $30 million revolving credit facility. GE Antares was administrative agent and GE Capital Markets was joint lead arranger and joint bookrunner for the transaction.

Proceeds are to refinance debt and pay a dividend, according to Thomson Reuters LPC, which said the company’s leverage is around 3.8x senior by 4.7x total debt to EBITDA.

Wind Point acquired Hearthside Food in April 2009 as its first deal from its Wind Point Partners VII fund, a $915 million pool that closed that same year, according to the Thomson One database of private equity investments. Since then, the firm has completed two add-ons for the company, Thomson One said.

Hearthside provides manufacturing services to branded food companies in three sectors like bakery products, snack foods and cold cereal products, Thomson One said. The company operates 13 food processing centers in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota and Oregon, and employs more than 5,000 workers, according to the GE Antares announcement.

Wind Point Partners, founded in 1984, has raised seven funds with more than $2.8 billion in commitments and has acquired more than 90 platform companies and 160 add-on acquisitions. The firm typically invests $30 million to $150 million of equity into businesses with an enterprise value of $100 million to $500 million. Its Web site lists 18 investing professionals.