Thompson Street Capital Partners (TSCP), a private equity firm based in St. Louis, and Code Hennessy & Simmons LLC (CHS), a Chicago-based private equity firm, have jointly announced the sale of Waddington North America (WNA) to an entity controlled by Citicorp Venture Capital. The Covington Kentucky-based WNA is a manufacturer of high-quality, disposable tableware for restaurants, caterers and consumers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
WNA is the leading North American manufacturer and marketer of premium rigid plastic foodservice disposables, including dinnerware, drinkware, servingware, take-out containers and cutlery. Operating six manufacturing facilities throughout the United States and Canada, WNA serves the restaurant, catering and consumer markets.
TSCP partnered with CHS in July 2000 and worked closely with WNA’s management team to grow the company’s revenue and profitability through new product introductions, strategic acquisitions and expanded customer relationships. During TSCP’s co-ownership, WNA completed a successful recapitalization, three acquisitions and two divestitures. In this time period, WNA sales increased by 55 percent.