Peakstone Closed Deal Announcement: Prairie City Bakery on Sale to McKee Foods


M&A Advisor

May, 2019. Peakstone served as exclusive financial advisor to Prairie City Bakery Company (“Prairie City” or the “Company”) in connection with its sale to McKee Foods Corporation. With annual sales of approximately $1.4 billion, McKee Foods Corporation is best known for its portfolio of Little Debbie brand of snack cakes, America’s leading snack cake brand. This transaction demonstrates Peakstone’s ability to access large, billion-dollar strategic buyers on behalf of its clients.

Prairie City was co-founded by President and Chief Executive Officer, William Skeens, in 1994.  Starting with one product, Muffin Tops, today Prairie City Bakery offers more than 125 varieties of individually-wrapped and bulk food service products, including Big Cinnamon Rolls, danish, Down Home Cookies, Classic and Premium Donuts, Donut Holes in a Cup and Ooey Gooey Butter Cakes. They sell into the convenience, food service and in-store bakery channels. “Peakstone’s dedicated Food and Beverage industry team executed a highly targeted marketing process that resulted in an outstanding outcome,” said Bill Skeens. “They understood the baking industry and our business. They saw the opportunity presented by a combination between McKee and Prairie City, and executed an efficient transaction process. Peakstone has a dedicated practice covering the Food & Beverage industry and completes numerous transactions in the F&B sector each year.

McKee Foods Corporation, a family bakery, is a privately-held company based in Collegedale, Tennessee.  In addition to Little Debbie, McKee Foods’ brands include Sunbelt Bakery® snacks and cereals and Fieldstone® bakery food products. Founded in 1934, McKee employs more than 6,200 people.  Mike McKee, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We sought to acquire Prairie City Bakery because they built a great brand with quality, innovative products that satisfy specific retail customer needs. We want to continue that success by following the same great strategy with the same great management team.  We are excited to continue building on this success.

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Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

For additional information please contact:

Cathy Jaros, Managing Director, 312-262-7735, cjaros@peakstone.com

Eric Dziedzic, Managing Director, 312-346-7314, eric@peakstone.com

About Peakstone

Peakstone is a leading investment bank that specializes in mergers and acquisitions advisory and capital raising for middle market clients. The team is comprised of senior investment banking professionals who have decades of experience and have executed hundreds of transactions totaling billions of dollars. For additional information, visit www.peakstone.com.