ForteCEO Assists Ann's House of Nuts in Sale to Private Equity Firm

20-month ForteCEO consulting engagement culminates in successful exit for
family-owned business that built a leadership position in the snack foods
industry

NORTHBROOK, Ill., July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- ForteCEO, a senior level
consulting firm, today announced that private equity firm Olympus Partners has
acquired a majority interest in one of its client businesses, Ann's House of
Nuts ("Ann's"). Ann's is a $250 million global leader in trail mixes and other
snacks domestically and internationally.
ForteCEO worked extensively with Ann's owners and senior management for 20
months leading up to the sale. The firm worked alongside the Ann's team to
restructure the organization and significantly improve operations. This
resulted in a major increase to the company's valuation and enabled the firm
to be marketed successfully to many potential domestic and international
acquirers. Ann's was sold to Olympus Partners after ForteCEO and Ann's owners
completed in-depth management presentations and an active bidding process with
Lincoln International, the company's investment bank.
ForteCEO lead consultant George Lampros will assume the role of Chief
Executive Officer of Ann's, effectively ending his tenure as a highly-regarded
member of ForteCEO's consulting group. ForteCEO is unique in the consulting
business in that all of its consultants are former CEOs or senior executives
with a long track record of business success.
"My management team and I are very enthusiastic about the growth
opportunities at Ann's House of Nuts. We look forward to working with the
company's founders and Olympus Partners to achieve the next chapter of
significant top and bottom line growth," said Lampros. "I am pleased that our
team of ForteCEO consultants, the existing management team and our investment
banking partners were successful in creating a very favorable outcome for the
Company and its shareholders."
After completing a 360 degree performance improvement initiative, ForteCEO
then worked closely with professionals from Lincoln International, a global
investment bank specializing in middle-market transactions. To identify the
right buyer ForteCEO's consultants and general partners led multiple
management presentations to strategic and equity buyers. The final transaction
was contingent on ForteCEO's consultants becoming Ann's management team.
"ForteCEO is a professional and highly competent partner that helped me
achieve my goals as a business owner," said Ed Zinke, Founder and former Chief
Executive Officer of Ann's. "ForteCEO's consultants provided us with strategic
guidance and implementation expertise that was invaluable to bringing the
company to a sale. Our 20-month partnership was very rewarding personally and
professionally."
"Olympus Partners enters the transaction with a vision of contributing new
ideas and resources to further Ann's tradition of providing quality products,
innovative snacking ideas and a commitment to customer service," said Manu
Bettegowda, Partner of Olympus Partners. "ForteCEO's operational improvements,
the talents of their team members, and their ability to outline a pathway to
future improvements were critical in our decision to fund this transaction.
With the ForteCEO consultants, led by George Lampros, now running Ann's, and
the ongoing involvement of the Zinke family, we look forward to build upon
Ann's strong reputation for excellence in the snack foods industry."
Ann's also was represented by the Corporate & Securities group at Reed
Smith LLP, a global law firm and leading advisor to many of the world's
foremost companies. The transaction team was based in Chicago and Pittsburgh.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The Zinke family will
continue to be involved and maintain an ownership stake in the business.
About Ann's House of Nuts
Founded in 1973, Ann's is the largest privately held provider of trail
mixes and snack nuts in the world. With a specialization in private label
healthy snack foods, Ann's formulates, imports and processes an array of trail
mixes, snack nuts, dried fruits and other products for global distribution. In
most cases, the company is either the exclusive supplier or a primary private
label supplier in its categories to blue-chip customers in the mass
merchandise, supercenter, wholesale club, grocery and other retail channels.
Ann's is based in Jessup, MD and has a large production facility in
Robersonville, NC.
About ForteCEO
ForteCEO ("ForteCEO") is a leading senior executive consulting firm for
middle-market businesses in the United States. Headquartered in Northbrook,
IL, the firm entrenches senior executives in strategic advisor, general
management, financial and operational implementation roles in middle-market
businesses to help capture opportunities, improve operations, maximize
profitability, fill voids created by departing staff, prepare for an exit,
resolve crises and much more. Each of ForteCEO's interim executives has more
than 20 years of hands-on operating and leadership experience. ForteCEO works
with executives throughout a variety of industry and functional areas of
expertise. The firm's executives are more than "consultants"; they work
alongside business owners and their management teams to implement meaningful
change that significantly improves revenues and profits for the long term.
More information about ForteCEO can be obtained at http://www.forteceo.com.
About Olympus Partners
Olympus Partners ("Olympus") is a private equity firm that provides equity
capital to privately held, middle-market business services, logistics,
healthcare, financial services, consumer products and information technology
companies. Founded in 1988, Olympus manages over $3.1 billion on behalf of
corporate pension plans, public retirement systems, university endowment
funds, and the executives of Olympus' portfolio companies. The firm's latest
fund, Olympus Growth Fund V, has committed capital of $1.5 billion. Olympus
focuses on a value-added approach with its portfolio companies and a true
partnership with its management teams. More information about Olympus can be
obtained at http://www.olympuspartners.com.
About Lincoln International
Lincoln International specializes in merger and acquisition services,
private capital raising, and providing fairness opinions and valuations for
leading organizations involved in middle-market transactions. With offices in
Chicago, Frankfurt, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, New York, Paris and Vienna,
and strategic partnerships with China Everbright and other partner firms in
Asia, Lincoln International has strong local knowledge and contacts in the key
global economies. The organization provides clients with senior-level
attention, in-depth industry expertise, and integrated resources. By being
focused and independent, Lincoln International serves its clients without
conflicts of interest. More information about Lincoln International can be
obtained at http://www.lincolninternational.com.
About Reed Smith
Reed Smith is a top-15 global relationship law firm with more than 1,600
lawyers in 23 offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the
Middle East. Founded in 1877, the firm represents leading international
businesses from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-market and emerging
enterprises. Its corporate attorneys provide representation to both issuers
and investors with respect to all types of equity and debt securities
transactions made at all stages of a company's development cycle.
SOURCE ForteCEO

Frank Krolicki of Walker Sands Communications, +1-312-546-4127,
fkrolicki@walkersands.com, for ForteCEO