Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, Inc. has a minority ownership in the pet food company based on a joint venture alliance forged in 2009. The partnership included Tyson's expertise in developing, processing and distributing meat and poultry products with Freshpet's pet-food experence to further develop the line of refrigerated pet foods. Seacaucus, New Jersey-based Freshpet also is backed by growth equity from MidOcean Partners, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors and Charles Norris, chairman of Kayne Anderson.
Fresh pet sells its foods and treats via company owned "Freshpet Fridges" installed at more than 12,500 retail stores including Wal-Mart, Petco, PetSmart, Kroger, Target and Whole Foods. Products are manufactured under the Freshpet Select and Deli Fresh brands.
The company, which was founded in 2004, netted $74 million in sales for the 12 months ended June 30, 2014. For the six months ended June 30, 2014, Freshpet recorded revenues of $40 million, a 38 percent increase. Adjusted EBITDA for the company was $400,000, down from $1.8 million during the year-ago period. The company's debt was $84 million at the end of the quarter.
