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Monogram Capital Partners is buying back meat snack manufacturer Western Smokehouse Partners in a nearly $500 million deal to capitalize on surging demand for high-protein, on-the-go snacks. An experienced investor in co-manufacturing and private-level businesses, AUA will exit Western Smokehouse as a result of the latest deal. Monogram was founded in 2014 and has invested in consumer brands, including prebiotic soda maker Olipop and Swedish oat-milk brand Oatly.
Monogram Capital Partners is buying back meat snack manufacturer Western Smokehouse Partners in a nearly $500 million deal to capitalize on surging demand for high-protein, on-the-go snacks.
Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Monogram first invested in Western Smokehouse, which serves as a contract manufacturer for snack brands such as Chomps, Archer and Conagra Brands' Fatty Smoked Meat Sticks, in 2018. The firm remained a minority investor after it sold the business in 2023 to AUA Private Equity. An experienced investor in co-manufacturing and private-level businesses, AUA will exit Western Smokehouse as a result of the latest deal.
"After a very, very successful two-year hold, as well as the very visible prospects of continued [business expansion], we felt we had accomplished a lot of what we set out to do much faster than we typically would expect," said AUA partner David Benyaminy.
Florida-based AUA has raised at least $204.4 million so far for its third fund, according to a February regulatory filing.
To help reacquire the business, Monogram raised its first single-asset continuation vehicle, a type of fund that holds only one company, giving fund investors the option to cash out, Monogram co-founder Jared Stein said.
Secondary firm Committed Advisors served as lead investor in the roughly $260 million continuation vehicle, he said. A person familiar with the transaction put the overall deal value, including debt, at nearly $500 million.
The consumer shift to food and drinks considered healthier alternatives that supported Monogram's initial acquisition has only accelerated and broadened, Stein said. He noted that weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy are driving greater demand for high-protein snacks like meat sticks.
Monogram acquired Western's Smokehouse from the founding Western family through its debut fund. Under Monogram's ownership, the company, named Western Smokehouse Partners, expanded from one to three facilities and grew earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, by roughly fivefold, according to Stein.
"You can always get credit for business performance and outperforming your base case," Stein said. "But ultimately, there's a different, sort of, stamp of validation by printing an exit outcome. And this was a very meaningful one."
A person familiar with that transaction said Monogram's sale to AUA in 2023 nearly returned all of its debut fund's committed capital.
Western Smokehouse, whose business has grown more than 10-fold since Monogram first invested, is slated to add two more locations this year, bringing its projected processing capacity to some 120 million pounds of meat a year, Stein said. But consumer demand continues to outstrip the company's growth, he added, noting that Western Smokehouse has put customers "on allocation." This typically happens when manufacturers experience shortages and have to decide how to allocate their limited supply among their customers.
The company expects to increase production to some 1.1 billion meat sticks a year in 2026, up from a projected 800 million meat sticks this year.
But production capacity for the two new facilities is already largely sold out, Stein said, adding that the business is on track to nearly double Ebitda again this year.
Monogram was founded in 2014 and has invested in consumer brands, including prebiotic soda maker Olipop and Swedish oat-milk brand Oatly. It has also backed supply-chain and service businesses, such as its majority investment alongside Halmos Capital Partners in sports construction and surfacing company Vasco Group.
Monogram typically writes equity checks of up to $75 million a deal, but Stein said the firm can go well above that amount through co-investments, as was the case with the Western Smokehouse transaction. Monogram's third fund is expected to close in September and has about $250 million in commitments, according to a person familiar with the fundraising.
Continuation funds, such as the one Monogram used with the Western Smokehouse deal, have become an increasingly common type of vehicle used to facilitate secondary transactions led by fund managers. Monogram's continuation vehicle gave investors in the firm's debut fund an option to cash out. Some of those early investors stayed on, however, including Chicago-based fund-of-funds manager RCP Advisors, which backed the Committed Advisors-led continuation fund.
Write to Maria Armental at [email protected]
By Maria Armental
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