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This manufacturing facility in Sanger owned by Initiative Foods was sold to a Texas-based commercial investment group. Photo contributed by MAG Capital Partners.

published on July 31, 2020 - 10:52 AM
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A Texas property investment group has purchased the manufacturing home of a Fresno County baby food maker.

MAG Capital Partners, LLC, completed the acquisition of the 28,500 square-foot Initiative Foods facility in Sanger. Initiative Foods is the largest private label baby food manufacturer in the U.S., making 50 different varieties of organic products ultimately sold under different retailer brands.

The state-of-the-art facility at 1945 Industry Way was completed in November 2019 after a fire of unknown origin destroyed nearly all of Initiative Food’s previous buildings on July 24, 2016. With Initiative Food’s sale of its facility, it will lease back the property from Fort Worth-based MAG Capital Partners for a period of 20 years.

Other terms of the deal were not disclosed.

John Ypma, president of Initiative Foods, holds young Ethan Elliott, the son of a couple of former employees who attended a 2017 ribbon cutting for the manufacturer’s new facility after the fire. File photo

 

Initiative Foods was founded in 2002 by John Ypma, who formerly worked for Gerber. Soon after the fire, Ypma hosted a “reverse” job fair, inviting employers who may be interested in hiring up to 80 of his employees out of work due to the fire.

“No reservations required,” Ypma said at the time, “even though you may be talking to someone over a pallet.”

Last year, Initiative Foods earned a Small Business of the Year award from California Sen. Melissa Hurtado of Sanger.

“Their grit and will to remain true to their homegrown roots in the City of Sanger is a great representation of the Central Valley,” Sen. Hurtado stated in June 2019.

MAG Capital Partners was represented in the transaction by Mary Garnett and Jim Tuesley of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Chelsea Mandel with Chicago, Illinois-based Stream Capital Partners represented the seller.

MAG Capital Partners is a private commercial real estate investment firm formed in 2015 by Dax T.S. Mitchell and Andrew Gi. The company owns a portfolio primarily comprising single-tenant industrial and other income-producing properties throughout the United States.


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