WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — There’s a new wholesale distributor in the convenience-store industry.
Private-equity firm Palm Beach Capital Fund III LP created National Convenience Distributors LLC (NCD) to service its customers in the c-store and grocery industries. Palm Beach Capital also made an investment in Allen Brothers Wholesale Distributors, one of the nation’s largest full-line wholesale distributors to the c-store and grocery industries.
Palm Beach Capital will combine Allen Brothers, J. Polep Distribution Services—the Chicopee, Mass.-based company that Palm Beach Capital invested in in September 2019—and Harold Levinson Associates, Farmingdale, N.Y., to create NCD. Each will become an operating division of the national distributor.
"The three divisions complement each other exceptionally well, and together we are a much stronger organization," said Ed Berro, president of the Harold Levinson Associates division.
This brings NCD’s annual revenues to $3 billion, making it one of the largest wholesale distributors in the c-store industry, according to Palm Beach Capital. Financial terms of the deal with Allen Brothers were not disclosed.
Founded in 1977, Harold Levinson Associates provides candy, cigarettes and premium cigars, frozen and refrigerated foods, as well as its own Island Coffee brand of coffee products to its more than 15,000 customers located throughout the United States. The wholesaler serves customers from six strategic distribution centers located in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Founded in 1898, J. Polep Distribution Services provides candy; snack items; fresh, frozen and refrigerated foods; cigarettes and cigars; and coffee products to its more than 6,000 customers located throughout the northern United States. It serves customers from seven strategic distribution and cross-dock centers located in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania.
Beginning operations in 1910 as a family business, Philadelphia-based Allen Brothers serves customers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware. It offers a variety of products including candy, snacks, grocery, food service items, coffee, tobacco products and general merchandise.
“The opportunities for our business and our employees just dramatically expanded as a result of this merger,” said Jeff Allen, president of the new Allen Brothers Wholesale Distributors division. “Being part of a larger organization like National Convenience Distributors will allow us to expand our geographical reach and service our existing customer base more effectively. We remain dedicated to the long-term success of our devoted employees, our customers and our valued suppliers.”
West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Palm Beach Capital, founded in 2001, focuses on high-growth investment opportunities and partners with management teams in middle-market management buyouts, recapitalizations and growth equity investments.
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