Carter Morse & Goodrich (“CMG”) is pleased to announce that it served as the exclusive financial advisor to Watson Inc. (“Watson”) in its sale to Glanbia Nutritionals, a subsidiary of Glanbia plc, a public company headquartered in Ireland, for $89 million.
Founded in 1939, Watson is a third-generation family owned company headquartered in West Haven, Connecticut and is a leading supplier of ingredients for the food and supplement industries. Watson, with manufacturing facilities in both Connecticut and Illinois, has market-leading expertise in microencapsulation, agglomeration, micronizing, spray drying and film technology enabling the company to develop unique value-added ingredients for some of the leading branded food companies around the globe.
Glanbia Nutritionals is a $1.4 billion nutritional solutions and cheese business with operations in 19 countries. The Glanbia offering includes proteins, custom nutrient premixes, cheese, bioactives, plant-based nutrition ingredients, flavors, micronutrients, and aseptic beverage manufacturing. Their products are sold in over 130 countries worldwide into mainstream food and beverage, sports nutrition, clinical nutrition, infant nutrition, supplements, personal care, and animal nutrition markets.
Tom Tench, COO of Glanbia Nutritionals commented “We are excited to welcome the 300 employees of Watson with their established reputation of expertise, technical capability, and commitment to excellence. We have admired the Watson organization for many years and are honored to carry on the legacy of the company. Glanbia and Watson customers will enjoy increased combined capabilities, global coverage and continued focus on quality.”
James Watson, President of Watson, said “Choosing the right partner to take our company to new heights was a significant business and family decision. We are honored to join Glanbia, whose values, culture and mission match those of Watson. The Watson leadership team, including my three siblings in the business, will remain with the Glanbia Nutritionals organization, ensuring a seamless experience for Watson employees, customers, and business partners. With our combined product lines, expertise, and manufacturing capability, our customers now have access to more technologies, more knowledge, and better solutions.”
Michael Carter, Managing Director of CMG, explained, “We are very proud of working with the Watson family and the management team to close this transaction. Watson is another example of our expertise in helping family and closely held businesses prepare for and execute upon the most important transaction of their lifetime. We congratulate the entire Watson family on their extraordinary success and their new partnership with Glanbia.”
Other transaction advisors for Watson include Kiernan Herner, LLP and Locke Lord LLP, who served as the company’s legal advisors, and Blum Shapiro and Carl Weinstein, CPA, as tax advisors. Glanbia was advised by VedderPrice and PwC.
About Carter Morse & Goodrich:
Located in Southport, Connecticut, Carter Morse & Goodrich is a boutique M&A advisory firm that represents closely-held and family businesses valued between $20 million and $200 million.
While CMG provides a full range of investment banking services, our primary focus is representing sellers who are pursuing their once-in-a-lifetime M&A transactions. CMG specializes in helping owners of leading companies in unique and niche markets plan, prepare, execute, and close successful transactions that maximize shareholder value. We fully understand and appreciate the unique dynamics of closely-held and family businesses and the importance of their legacies.
For more than 30 years, the combination of our hands-on approach, senior banker attention, strategic guidance, seamless transaction execution and extensive network of domestic and international resources has enabled us to become a trusted advisor to hundreds of business owners.
We invite you talk with us and learn how we can help you. For more information, please visit us online at: www.cartermorse.com
CMG’s Broker/Dealer affiliate, Carter Capital Corporation, is a FINRA member firm registered with the SEC and SIPC.