Internationally known olive oil manufacturer, Pompeian, Inc., made the strategic decision to expand its production facilities at its Baltimore headquarters and cease operations in its Montebello, California bottling plant subsidiary, Sunset Olive Oil, LLC. SC&H Capital was retained to either identify a buyer able to use the facility with the equipment in place or sell the bottling equipment, which included 74 stainless steel holding tanks (located inside and outside of the building) and have it removed from the facility to expand the universe of potential real estate buyers.
SC&H secured offers from three different buying groups for the equipment and received three LOIs for the real estate (provided the equipment was removed). After reviewing all offers, the Pompeian team decided to designate a stalking horse bidder for the equipment and list the real estate for sale once the equipment had been removed.
An auction was conducted between the three equipment buyers, resulting in a purchase price increase of more than 25% over the initial stalking horse bid, a guarantee that all equipment would be removed by the end of 2023, and a significant financial penalty clause as assurance that the buyer would meet that deadline.
