Hain Celestial Expands Portfolio with Acquisition of Rudi's Organic Bakery

The Hain Celestial Group has announced the acquisition of Rudi's Organic Bakery, ("Rudi's"), an organic and gluten-free company with facilities in Boulder, Colo.  Under the Rudi's Organic Bakery and Rudi's Gluten-Free Bakery brands, Rudi's offers a range of approximately 60 products including USDA-certified organic breads, buns, bagels, tortillas, wraps and soft pretzels and GFCO-certified natural breads, buns, pizza crusts, tortillas, snack bars and stuffing in the United States and Canada.

In 2013, Rudi's generated approximately $60 million in net sales and is expected to be accretive to Hain Celestial's earnings in fiscal year 2015, company officials say.  The purchase price of $61.3 million consisted of cash and common shares of Hain Celestial.  Rudi's was a portfolio company of Charterhouse Equity Partners.

"We are very excited by the strategic acquisition of Rudi's, a leading certified organic bread brand, which expands our participation into 11 of the top 20 natural categories in the United States. At Hain Celestial we look for the latest trends, and consumers are increasing their purchases of whole grains, organic and gluten-free product offerings," says Irwin D. Simon, founder, president and chief executive officer of Hain Celestial.  "As a company committed to driving product innovation, we plan to build upon Rudi's leadership position and see the opportunity to take Rudi's into other categories where the brand does not have products today.  We have a proven ability to expand great brands and products into various channels of distribution including the conventional, mass and club channels where we see significant opportunities for increased distribution.  We expect to deliver significant synergies through top line sales and bottom line cost efficiencies by effectively leveraging the platform of Hain Celestial US, as we have successfully demonstrated with previous acquisitions."

"I am thrilled for all of the employees of Rudi's that we are joining the Hain Celestial family!  They are a leader in organic and natural products, and this will be the perfect home for our brand, an industry icon since 1976," says Jane S. Miller, president and CEO of Rudi's.

"As a company deeply rooted in Boulder since the 1960s, we are pleased to be increasing our presence in the community, and we welcome the Rudi's team to the Hain Celestial family as we seek to drive the next level of growth for the brand," Simon adds.