Investcorp acquires Fortune Fish & Gourmet

TDT | Manama

Investcorp, a leading global provider and manager of alternative investment products, yesterday announced acquiring Fortune International, a leading super-regional speciality distributor of seafood and gourmet food products.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Fortune was founded in 2001 by CEO Sean O’Scannlain, who will continue to lead the Company and maintain a significant ownership stake. Fortune distributes fresh seafood, frozen seafood and gourmet foods, offering more than 12,000 SKUs to fine-dining restaurants, grocery stores, hotels and other customers, primarily across the Midwestern U.S.

To maintain operational flexibility, Investcorp and O’Scannlain have capitalized the Company with a conservative capital structure to fund a deliberate acquisition strategy and further accelerate Fortune’s geographic expansion. “Specialty foodservice distribution in the United States is a highly fragmented, resilient and growing $40 billion market,” said Hazem BenGacem, Co-Chief Executive Officer at Investcorp.

Fortune operates a state-ofthe-art facility in Bensenville, Illinois, located close to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, which enables timely delivery of products across key Midwestern MSAs. In addition to its Bensenville facility, Fortune operates facilities in Minneapolis, Minnesota; St. Louis, Missouri; Kansas City, Missouri; Bayou La Batre, Alabama; Birmingham, Alabama and Picayune, Mississippi. Houlihan Lokey acted as financial advisor to Fortune on this transaction.