VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA — Premium Brands Holdings Corp., a producer, marketer and distributor of specialty foods, confirmed on Dec. 30 that it completed several acquisitions to expand its business.

The first one included NSP Quality Meats (NSP), a manufacturer of cooked protein and deli meats with plants located in Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri.

Next, the company added a manufacturer of branded and private-label cooked products from Casa Di Bertaacchi (Casa), including a New Jersey plant.

In Canada, Premium Brands acquired Italia Salami (Italia), a producer of dry-cured Italian salami, from a plant in Ontario.

Finally, Premium Brands disclosed its sale and leaseback of a recently expanded Hempler’s deli meats production facility in Washington, resulting in gross proceeds of approximately $68 million.

“We are very pleased to welcome NSP, Casa and Italia into our ecosystem and to be partnering with the management teams of these well-known and long-established businesses,” said George Paleologou, president and chief executive officer of Premium Brands.

The total purchase price for NSP, Casa and Italia was $66 million made up of $50 million in cash, $10 million in Premium Brands’ common shares and contingent consideration of US$6 million.  

“NSP and Casa will play major roles in supporting the continued growth of our market-leading branded cooked protein initiatives in the US by providing much needed capacity and improving our access to additional key US markets,” Paleologou said. “In addition, these businesses will significantly enhance our Specialty Foods Group’s ability to largely mitigate any potential border and tariff related risks.”

He added that the Italia business is a smaller acquisition but provides Premium Brands’ existing Concord business with needed local production to help with its Marcangelo-branded Italian charcuterie offerings.