Teachers’ to sell pet food maker

Toronto-based Teachers’ Private Capital (TPC), the private equity division of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, has publicly announced plans to sell its ownership stake in pet food manufacturer Doane Pet Care. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.

Doane Pet Care, a Brentwood, Tennessee-based company and the second largest producer of dry pet food in the US, is to be acquired by Mars Incorporated. McLean, Virginia-headquartered Mars is a private company with operations spanning the pet care, stack food, drinks, and food industries in 65 countries. Current Mars pet food brands include PEDIGREE and WHISKAS.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals – among other conditions – and is expected to wrap up in the upcoming months. The Mars acquisition will encompass the 20 plants and two distribution centres of Doane’s North America business –its European operations will be sold to another party.

The Doane acquisition will be folded into Mars and renamed Mars North American Pet business, which is to be managed by Doane’s current president and CEO Doug Cahill.

TPC finalised its purchase of Doane in October of last year, acquiring the company from JPMorgan Partners in a roughly $840 million (€640 million) deal. The Doane acquisition represented the largest buyout that TPC has engaged in as a stand-alone investor.

TPC manages over C$11 billion ($9.7 billion, 7.8 billion) in assets on behalf of the C$96 billion Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, an independent entity charged with managing the pensions of the quarter million active and retired teachers in Ontario. As the private investment arm of Ontario Teachers’, TPC’s investment activities include providing equity and mezzanine capital to large- and middle-market companies and venture capital firms.