River Associates Acquires Wheat Montana

Chattanooga, TN, January 16, 2015

River Associates Investments, LLC (“River”) a leading lower middle market private equity firm based in Chattanooga, TN, announced that it has partnered with management to acquire Wheat Holdings LLC (“Wheat Montana”), a leading provider of premium, branded mill and bakery products headquartered in Three Forks, MT. Wheat Montana offers a variety of non-GMO, chemical-free grains and whole grain flours, mixes, and fresh and frozen bread products to retail and wholesale customers throughout the United States.

“We are excited to partner with the team at Wheat Montana. They are the kind of talented, honest and hardworking people that we enjoy being in business with,” said Patten Pettway, a Partner at River Associates. “Management has done a great job establishing a real following for its farm to table baked and milled products. We look forward to helping the team expand the Company’s markets and brand awareness.”

“We were a family owned organization with a business that had grown well beyond our original expectations,” said Dean Folkvord, Chief Executive Officer of Wheat Montana. “We wanted a partner that could help us take the Company to the next level, but that would allow our closely held values to remain.  We were impressed with the folks from River Associates from day one.  Honest, inquisitive, and genuine, is how I would describe their action team.  Plus we checked them out thoroughly, and we never heard a negative comment.  Now we are partnered with an experienced Private Equity firm, well positioned to take advantage of new opportunities, and excited about building more value into the Wheat Montana brand.”

River Associates funded the transaction with equity from its sixth investment fund (River VI, L.P.). Financing was provided by OneWest Bank, and Northstar Capital.