New platform will invest in and foster growth for innovative
consumer brands that customers will love
The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) and Lindsay Goldberg, a private investment firm
that focuses on partnering with families, founders and management teams
seeking to actively build their businesses, today announced the
formation of PearlRock Partners, a new platform that will identify,
invest in and help grow the next generation of leading consumer product
brands. PearlRock Partners will be one of the largest data-driven
investment vehicles focused on consumer brands. The platform will be a
part of Kroger’s alternative profit streams portfolio.
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To help emerging consumer brands reach new customers and grow their
business, the new platform will leverage Kroger’s merchandising
capabilities and predictive analytics along with Lindsay Goldberg’s deep
consumer expertise and nearly 20-year track record of investing in and
supporting family-owned and founder-led companies.
“We are excited to add PearlRock Partners to our portfolio of
high-growth alternative profit businesses that generate additional value
from our core grocery business. We are confident this partnership with
Lindsay Goldberg will help discover and cultivate new brands that Kroger
customers will love,” said Stuart Aitken, Kroger’s senior vice president
of alternative business and CEO of 84.51°. “We are transforming from
grocer to growth company by deploying our assets to serve even more
customers and create margin-rich alternative profit streams.”
Brian Kelley, a Partner at Lindsay Goldberg who previously served as CEO
of Keurig Green Mountain and President of Coca-Cola’s North American
operations, added: “We are thrilled to partner with Kroger to help grow
tomorrow’s most successful consumer brands alongside the entrepreneurs
who built them. Backed by a state-of-the-art predictive data platform,
real-world consumer product expertise and unparalleled merchandising
resources, these next-gen brands will be poised for growth and offer
Kroger’s broad customer base greater choice, convenience and innovation.”
Chris Laitala, a Partner at Lindsay Goldberg, stated: “Our partnership
with Kroger creates an opportunity to invest in the consumer products
industry with unique insights and a competitive edge. Consistent with
our track record of making transformative investments with exceptional
industry partners, this strategic relationship with Kroger will provide
differentiated sourcing and visibility into evolving consumer
preferences and brand performance.”
“We are excited about building a long-term partnership with Kroger,”
said Eric Fry, a Partner at Lindsay Goldberg.
PearlRock Partners ladders to Restock Kroger, Kroger’s
transformational plan to redefine the food and grocery customer
experience in America. Through Restock Kroger, the company is
leveraging its stores, logistics and data assets to create incremental
new profit streams, which, in turn, drive investments to further
redefine the customer experience. In this way, Kroger’s new growth model
will be a virtuous cycle. The new platform will not only drive new
alternate profit streams for Kroger, but will also contribute to the
small brand ecosystem, helping emerging brands grow and thrive in
Kroger’s stores.
For brands and other parties interested in learning more, please email inquiries@pearlrockpartners.com.
About Kroger
At The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR), we are dedicated to our Purpose: to Feed
the Human Spirit™. We are nearly half a million associates who serve
nine million customers daily through a seamless digital shopping
experience and 2,800 retail food stores under a variety of banner
names, serving America through food inspiration and uplift, and
creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities by 2025. To learn more about
us, visit our newsroom and
investor relations site.
About Lindsay Goldberg
Lindsay Goldberg is a private investment firm that focuses on partnering
with families, founders and management teams seeking to actively build
their businesses. Founded in 2001, Lindsay Goldberg’s
relationship-driven approach is centered upon a collaborative investment
model and supported by its global network of affiliate partners. For
more information about Lindsay Goldberg, please visit www.lindsaygoldbergllc.com.
About 84.51°
84.51°, a Kroger company, knows customers, and we know how to connect
you. Using a sophisticated, proprietary suite of tools and technology,
we turn customer data into actionable knowledge. With unique customer
data and predictive analytics capabilities, we deliver personalized
marketing strategies and ensure the best experience for customers of
Kroger and more than 300 consumer-packaged-goods companies. We put the
customer at the center of everything we do, resulting in a more dynamic,
informed and personal approach to driving customer loyalty.
This press release contains forward-looking statements, as that term
is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995,
about the future performance of Kroger. These statements are
indicated by words such as “create,” “confident,” “excited,” “will” and
similar words. Various uncertainties and other factors could
cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the
forward-looking statements. These include the specific risk
factors identified in “Risk Factors” and “Outlook” in Kroger’s annual
report on Form 10-K for our last fiscal year and any subsequent filings,
as well as the following: Our ability to achieve sales, earnings,
incremental FIFO operating profit, and free cash flow goals may be
affected by the ability to execute on Restock Kroger and the success of
new partnerships. Our ability to use free cash flow to drive
growth while also maintaining our current investment grade debt rating
and returning capital to shareholders could be affected by unanticipated
increases in net total debt, our ability to generate free cash flow at
the levels anticipated, and our failure to generate expected earnings.
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