H.I.G. Capital Invests in Brazilian Ice Cream Company Creme Mel Sorvetes

H.I.G. Capital has made a strategic investment in Creme Mel Sorvetes. No financial terms were disclosed. Creme Mel Sorvetes is a Brazilian ice cream company.

PRESS RELEASE

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil–(BUSINESS WIRE)–H.I.G. Capital, LLC (“H.I.G.”), a leading global private investment firm, announced today that its Brazilian affiliate has completed a strategic investment in Creme Mel Sorvetes (“Creme Mel” or “The Company”), a leading Brazilian Ice Cream Company.
Headquartered in Goiás, Creme Mel is the largest ice cream producer in the Mid-West of Brazil. The Company has over 900 employees and sells ice cream in 9 Brazilian states. H.I.G.’s investment will allow Creme Mel to expand its production capacity with the construction of a new plant and will provide capital for a faster expansion throughout Brazil.
“We are very excited to have H.I.G. as a partner. Their ability and experience in helping companies grow all over the world will help accelerate the expansion of Creme Mel into new markets. We’ll be able to take Creme Mel ice creams to even more clients, always keeping our high quality standards,” commented Antonio Santos, founder of Creme Mel. Both current shareholders, Antonio Santos and Group Odilon Santos, will remain shareholders after H.I.G.’s investment.
Fernando Marques Oliveira, Managing Director and Head of H.I.G. Brazil, said: “We are very pleased to have the opportunity to help Creme Mel’s management team continue its tremendous success story of rapid growth. Creme Mel produces top-of-class products and is very well positioned to expand its sales throughout Brazil. With a team of skilled and seasoned professionals already in place, we will work together with management to bring additional talent needed to support the Company’s growth.”
About Creme Mel
Creme Mel is an ice cream producer founded in Goiás, Brazil in 1987 by the entrepreneur Antônio Santos in his home garage. Today Creme Mel is the largest ice cream producer in Brazil’s Mid-West and is among the largest in Brazil. The Company has over 900 employees and sells ice cream in the states of Goiás, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Bahia, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Pará, Maranhão and Distrito Federal, delivering to its customers a unique product in quality and flavor. For further information, please visit www.crememel.com.br.
About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. is a leading global private equity investment firm with more than $13 billion of equity capital under management. Based in Miami, and with offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York, and San Francisco in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Paris, and Rio de Janeiro, H.I.G. specializes in providing capital to small and medium-sized companies with attractive growth potential. H.I.G. invests in management-led buyouts and recapitalizations of profitable and well managed manufacturing or service businesses. H.I.G. also has extensive experience with financial restructurings and operational turnarounds. Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. invested in and managed more than 200 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 80 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.