CORREGGIO, ITALY – SugarCreek Packing Co., Washington Court House, Ohio, acquired 100% of Veroni S.p.A., a leading producer of premium cured and cooked meats. Meanwhile, Veroni acquired Carnigest S.r.L, a producer of sausages, cured meats, smoked meats, canned meats and other meat specialties.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but Daniel Hammer, senior vice president of international business development at SugarCreek, was appointed chief executive officer for Veroni USA and will be an engaged director in the Veroni S.p.A.

John Richardson, chairman and CEO of SugarCreek said, “We are very excited about the coming together of our two companies and how it will position us in the marketplace. Both companies offer unique, high quality and food centric assortments. Together, we can build on the Veroni group and grow and widen our product offerings for our current and future customers.”

Guido and Marco Veroni, current managing directors at Veroni S.p.A., will keep their roles and manage the company, according to the principles of continuity and autonomy, the company said. Furthermore, the current management has been confirmed, as well as all employees.

“Selling a long–held family business is never easy, but we thought this was the right thing to do at the right time. We strongly believe in the benefits it will bring to our associates and to our customers,” said Stefano Veroni, president of Veroni Group, and 4th generation family member of Veroni. “We have confidence that with our manufacturing synergies, we will lead the business to new heights. The family and its values have always been our distinctive asset.

“Today we leave our family of origin to enthusiastically enter into a new bigger family: SugarCreek,” he added. “We know that we have the right associates and teams in place, both in Italy and US and together with SugarCreek, we look forward to strengthening our positioning and growing our business with our passion for tradition and high quality products.”

Veroni S.p.A was founded in 1925 by five brothers in the small town of Correggio, Italy. The company currently operates six production facilities in the Emilia Romagna region of Northern Italy and a slicing plant in the United States. Veroni makes more than 600 products and employs 280 people in Italy and 70 in the United States.

With roughly 200 sales brokers, Veroni S.p.A sells worldwide across multiple channels: retail, traditional shops, hotels, foodservice and cafés.

“Quality food and customer care are our guiding principles. Most importantly, both organizations have outstanding associates and very qualified and talented teams,” Richardson added. “Together we will build on the core values and food forward culture. Our goal is becoming a market-leading and quality-driven organization, that will deliver the highest quality products for all our customers.”

SugarCreek is a diversified food manufacturer with seven major manufacturing facilities. Founded by John S. Richardson in 1966, the company specializes in packaged foods for retail and foodservice channels, providing a wide-ranging, value-added assortment of raw, to sous vide, to fully cooked products for domestic and international customers across all sales channels. Under the current leadership of John G. Richardson, SugarCreek employs over 2,500 associates and serves customers across the United States and internationally.