Author: Ryan Buynak

Flip Buyer Secured During Due Diligence

A leading investment partnership contacted Global Food Properties early in its evaluation of a bottling plant in a rural Southern sub-market. The firm was interested in acquiring the property and remaining equipment; the partnership was confident it could sell the production assets and recover a portion of the acquisition cost, but it was less certain on a timely exit from the property itself.

Global Food Properties toured the facility, noting infrastructure and use strengths and weaknesses, and then emailed details to its “Active Looking List”. Immediately, a past client in the dry mixing and baking sector toured the property, and agreed to take title after the investment partnership completed the equipment auction. The investment partnership received a substantial profit from the auction proceeds, with no exit risk; and the user acquired a “broom swept” production plant, cleaned and empty of all surplus equipment, and ready for new occupancy.

Who you choose matters, particularly in navigating transactions involving bundled real estate and equipment assets. For additional details, please contact our Co-Founder & Designated Managing Broker, Jeffrey J. Counsell, at +1 312 589 8844 or jeff.counsell@globalfoodproperties.com.

Timely Flip Captures Substantial Profit

Global Food Properties was pleased to procure a private investor in the sale of a 138,000 SF former bakery plant in the Southeast. The Seller was a leading asset disposition firm, expert at acquiring manufacturing plants and their assets, and then leveraging the pieces for a sum greater than the whole. Here, we were dual agents for the Seller, as well as the procuring broker.

The scarcity of good industrial space, coupled with improvements made to the facility before going to market, drove heightened demand both within and beyond the food sector. Though built as a dry bakery, the property traded to an investment firm expanding its holdings in a highly desirable Southeastern sub-market.

Who you choose matters. Global Food Properties’ fluency in both end-users and investors of purpose-built food production plants helped create an outsized return in less than eight months.

For additional details on how we can add value to your food facility holdings, please contact our Co-Founder & Designated Managing Broker, Jeffrey J. Counsell, at +1 312 589 8844, or jeff.counsell@globalfoodproperties.com.

Transaction Captures Labor and Certain Production Assets

Global Food Properties was pleased to represent a leading branded foods manufacturer in the sale of a purpose-built frozen production plant in the Mid-South. The property’s high-finishes and frozen production infrastructure created significant interest concurrent with the plant closing announcement.

A general scarcity of available food production space heightened demand, and drove pricing expectations. Additionally, the potential to capture the plant’s labor created a unique opportunity, as the Buyer effectively was able to capture the facility in operation, subject only to its modifications of certain lines and products.

Who you choose matters. The strength and speed of this transaction stemmed from Global Food Properties’ time-tested relationships with both parties, where a utopian outcome resulted more from a marriage of interests, than a zero-sum property negotiation.

For additional details on the advantages of private market-making, please contact our Co-Founder & Designated Managing Broker, Jeffrey J. Counsell, at +1 312 589 8844 or jeff.counsell@globalfoodproperties.com.

Leveraging Machinery to Define Use, Drive Value, Compress Vacancy

Global Food Properties was pleased to represent a leading private label food manufacturing in the sale of an integrated wheat mill and pasta manufacturing facility in the Upper Midwest. Operating with significant excess capacity, the Seller was interested in a bundled asset sale, to include in the transaction the real property and all remaining machinery and equipment.

Global Food Properties’ marketing campaign targeted major operators in the Northern States, as well in the Western Provinces of Canada. The facility and equipment were purpose-built for pasta production, supported by front-end Meridian Grain Max receiving bins, gravity-flow Ocrim and Maig milling lines, and Demaco pasta extruders, both long and short. Ultimately, the sale closed to a regional pasta and dry mixing company seeking to capture the significant cost and speed-to-market advantages of a turn-key plant.

For additional details on how bundling machinery and equipment with a vacant plant can create a market, define use, and drive value – all of which help compress time-on-market and carry cost – please contact our Co-Founder & Designated Managing Broker, Jeffrey J. Counsell at +1 312 589 8844 or jeff.counsell@globalfoodproperties.com.

Value and Use are More Than Brick and Mortar

Global Food Properties was pleased to represent an investment partnership in the repositioning of a 72,027 SF frozen production plant coming off a long-term lease. The owners were open to a sale or lease; their only mandate was that the pricing of either reflect critical infrastructure, including refrigerated and frozen storage, elevated electric, and a purpose-built 140-ton pad mounted chiller designed to provide rigorous dehumidification and temperature consistency.

The property attracted significant interest, from tri-temp warehouse operators, to refrigerated and frozen food manufacturers; indeed, the scarcity of available food plants in the Mid-South even led to a bid from a Central Asian distillery. In the end, the property’s physical attributes proved utopian for the manufacture and distribution of artisan pet food, tapping the explosive growth in the premium and fresh categories.

Fluency in infrastructure and use is critical in marketing special use assets. If you’re requirement needs more sophistication than an understanding of ceiling heights, cross docks, and trailers spots, please call our Co-Founder and Designated Managing Broker, Jeffrey J. Counsell at +1 312 589 8844 or jeff.counsell@globalfoodproperties.com.

Drives Expansion in Plant-based Sector

Global Food Properties was pleased to represent a plant-based foods company seeking urgent manufacturing capacity for its growing business. Operating under a few loose geographic parameters, Global Food Properties compiled an extensive availability survey, with options ranked according to client preferences, particularly the necessity for unusually “high care” food safety and  interior finishes. After the a short-listing of the best options, plant tours commenced and a quick decision followed.

Significantly, the property selected was not available publicly: there were no brokers, there was no listing, and no public databases were showcasing details. However, Global Food Properties was aware the facility was vacant, and it arranged a Principals’ meeting to evaluate a potential sale. Negotiations unfolded quickly, and in less than 45 days a transaction was consummated.

Global Food Properties maintains a proprietary database of available facilities. If your property search requires a process more rigorous than calling a generalist broker for canned CoStar and LoopNet property data, please contact our Co-Founder & Designated Managing Broker, Jeffrey J. Counsell at +1 312 589 8844 or jeff.counsell@globalfoodproperties.com.

Global Food Properties Serves as Rebuttal Witness

A leading global manufacturer of branded foods has retained Global Food Properties to assist its tax counsel in a significant property tax appeal. The facility is mission-critical in the protein production sector, and its size and complexity do not yield to “canned” data on value and use.

The crux of Global Food Properties testimony will be to challenge the assessors’ valuation, focusing acutely on the properties and interpretation of the data used in the Market Approach to Value. Participating in over $600M in food plant transactions, Global Food Properties has a rare fluency in the dynamics that drive value and use, including proprietary data and significant first-hand knowledge.

For additional details on our valuation expertise, whether in the context of a disposition, business combination or M&A, or a tax appeal, please contact our Co-Founder and Designated Managing Broker, Jeffrey J. Counsell at +1 312 589 8844 or jeff.counsell@globalfoodproperties.com.

Global Food Properties Advises European Frozen Manufacturer

Global Food Properties was pleased to assist a leading European deep-frozen fruit manufacturer assess its property options in Eastern and Northern China. Acting less as a broker and more as a “process driver,” Global Food Properties identified the local property experts, regulatory advisors, and developers in assembling a robust team capable of evaluating existing buildings and development options in China’s most ag-intensive provinces.

The most crucial benefit to the client was exposure to multiple brokerage houses and outside advisors, with clear visibility into the strengths and weaknesses of each. The largest firms are only as good as their local offices, which led to surprising outcomes and the need to think critically about where the real value lies.

For additional details on Global Food Properties unique global reach, or to speak confidentially with the European client referenced above, please contact our Co-Founder and Designated Managing Broker, Jeffrey J. Counsell at +1 312 589 8844 or jeff.counsell@globalfoodproperties.com.

Joint Expertise Leads to Quick Transaction

Global Food Properties, Chicago, IL., and Webb Properties, Albany, GA., were pleased to represent a leading branded foods manufacturer in the sale of its 225,000 SF shelf-stable food production facility in Southwestern, GA.

Global Food Properties created tremendous national visibility for the facility among users looking for ambient, non-refrigerated food production space; concurrently, Webb Properties leveraged it’s network of regional food and non-food prospects, resulting in an accelerated sale to a regional investor interested in adding speculative vacant space to its industrial portfolio.

Two brokers are better than one, particularly where next-generation use and value are not obvious and difficult to forecast. For additional details on how we partner with leading brokerage firms worldwide to create extraordinary outcomes, please contact our Co-Founder and Designated Managing Broker, Jeffrey J. Counsell at +1 312 589 8844 or jeff.counsell@globalfoodproperties.com.

Acquires Northeast Frozen Production Plant

Global Food Properties was pleased to consummate a significant off-market transaction involving a leading frozen and prepared foods manufacturer. The Seller was a private investor, and the property had been operated as a regional commissary for a premium retail chain.

The property was leased “turn-key,” with all production assets bundled and conveyed in a single transaction. Global Food Properties introduced the properties, in what became one of the most significant private transactions involving a frozen production plant in 2020.

For additional insights in how we can create real estate outcomes quietly, out of public view, please contact our Co-Founder and Designated Managing Broker, Jeffrey J. Counsell at +1 312 589 8844 or jeff.counsell@globalfoodproperties.com.