Americold buys Cloverleaf

ATLANTA – Americold Realty Trust is acquiring privately held Chiller Holdco, LLC, operating as Cloverleaf Cold Storage, from Cloverleaf management and an investor group led by private equity funds managed by Blackstone for a purchase price of US$1.24 billion.

The closing of the acquisition is subject to customary conditions and is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2019.

Founded in 1952 and based in Sioux City, Iowa, Cloverleaf is the fifth largest cold storage provider in the United States by refrigerated cubic feet and serves over 360 customers. The portfolio to be acquired consists of 22 facilities, of which 21 are owned and one is managed, totaling 132 million refrigerated cubic feet.

Cloverleaf acquired Zero Mountain in January 2019. It ships over 2.5 billion pounds of food annually and manages over 38 million cubic feet of total capacity in five cold storage warehouses, with expansions underway both in Arkansas and Texas.

Cloverleaf’s assets are located in nine states in the Central and Southeastern United States. Americold says they complement its existing geographic reach and expands its abilities in the growing protein business segment.

Upon closing, Americold’s portfolio will consist of over one billion refrigerated cubic feet.

“We welcome Cloverleaf to the Americold family. We have long admired Cloverleaf, the families that founded them and the associates that helped earn them a great reputation in our industry. We have a similar degree of respect for Zero Mountain, which was recently acquired by Cloverleaf. We will accelerate and enhance Cloverleaf’s recently implemented initiatives by leveraging Americold’s commercial platform, institutional quality management and the Americold Operating System (AOS),” said Fred Boehler, president and CEO of Americold Realty Trust.

BofA Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC are acting as exclusive financial advisors to Americold. King & Spalding LLP is acting as legal advisor to Americold.

Wells Fargo Securities and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. are acting as exclusive financial advisors to Cloverleaf and Blackstone. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is acting as legal advisor to Cloverleaf and Blackstone.