Peacock Engineering Company announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire L&L Foods, based in Anaheim, CA.

L&L Foods is a provider of high-volume, single-serve/portion-control packages of food products. Its products are primarily used in prepared salad packages and in fast-growing food-away-from-home venues, such as quick-serve-restaurants, cash & carry outlets and airlines. L&L offers unique formulations, sourcing and packaging capabilities to a number of leading food brands. The company has been led by founder John Pooley, who has extensive experience in supply chain and the food industry.

After the closing, L&L Foods will become a business unit of Peacock Engineering Company, which is based in Geneva, IL. Both companies will operate as they have in the past and will work closely to maintain their high levels of customer service as they come together.

Peacock is a food manufacturer and provider of packaging and supply chain management solutions to many of the top consumer food companies. Like L&L, Peacock works closely with key customers, acting as an extension of its customers' supply chain networks and offering a valuable route to market for new product and channel innovation. Peacock is owned by Charlesbank Capital Partners, a Boston-based middle-market private equity firm.

According to Tom Sampson, CEO of Peacock Engineering Company, "This is an investment in the growth of both companies' businesses. We're excited about acquiring such a high-quality company as L&L Foods. L&L has shown an ability to consistently grow at a remarkable pace by virtue of their founders' unwavering commitment to their customers.

"This acquisition will bring many benefits to our customers and employees, including a larger geographic footprint, access to faster growth channels and retail store locations, and enhanced overall packaging capabilities. All of this adds up to expanded capabilities to support our customers' growth."

John Pooley, CEO and founder of L&L Foods, added, "I'm proud of what we've built. Becoming part of Peacock, with its strong track record and focus on delighting its customers, gives me great confidence that the company we worked so hard to build will be able to provide even greater capabilities for our customers and our people. We look forward to working with a team that shares a similar focus on collaboratively meeting customer needs."

In late 2010, Charlesbank Capital Partners invested in the development and growth of Peacock as a pure-play food manufacturer and industry-leading provider of outsourced primary packaging and comprehensive supply chain solutions to preeminent brands in North America's food industry.

"Over the past three years, Peacock has achieved strong compound annual growth in a very competitive environment," said Tim Palmer, managing director and chief operating officer at Charlesbank. "The Peacock leadership team is amply prepared to take on this new opportunity and we believe the acquisition will fortify Peacock's position as a leader in this space."

Advisors for Charlesbank and Peacock on the transaction included PricewaterhouseCoopers for financial and Goodwin Procter for legal. For L&L Foods, Houlihan Lokey served as financial advisor and Norton Rose Fulbright as legal advisor.