Since it went public a year ago, Ridgefield-based The Chefs' Warehouse Inc., has been putting its money to use through acquisitions, including a $54.3 million purchase of Ohio-based Michael's Finer Meats this week.
Chefs' Warehouse went public in July of last year, raising net proceeds of $63.1 million. After using the money to strengthen its balance sheet, executives have been aggressively cracking open new markets and dropping new products into Chefs' pantry, making three purchases since the initial public offering and four in a little more than a year, when the $9 million June 2011 purchase of Harry Wils and Co., is included.
Michael's is expected to contribute 6 to 8 cents annually to diluted earnings per share. The Ohio meat and seafood purveyor has annual revenue of about $80 million, Chefs' reported earlier this week.
Shares in Chefs' have been on a five-day winning streak since the announced Michael's acquisition, moving from $14.42 at the beginning of the week to closing at $15.68 on Friday. Overall, however, Chefs' shares have not reclaimed the highs of last year, when they were trading at more than $16 in August.
We are excited to have Michaels join the Chefs' Warehouse family, said Chris Pappas, Chefs' CEO and chairman, in a news release. Michael's will complement our existing product offerings and significantly enhance our capabilities in center-of-the-plate categories.
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Michael's, founded in 1968, provides specialty cuts of meat and seafood to restaurants, country clubs, hotels and casinos in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and western Pennsylvania.
The other two acquisitions made since the IPO, brought significant distribution business across the country, but were small in revenue. Provvista, based in Oregon, had annual revenues of about $17 million, when Chefs' announced the deal in November. Praml International in Las Vegas, commanded a sales price of more than $19 million, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings from April.
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