VO2 Partners, the family office of Gary Comer, who founded Lands’ End and sold it to Sears Roebuck in 2002 for $1.9bn, and Arlon Group, a private investment group that invests Continental Grain Company’s permanent capital alongside select third-party capital, have made a minority equity investment in the Chia Company.
As part of the investment, Stacy Madison, founder of Stacy’s Pita Chips, which sold to Pepsico in 2006, will join Chia’s board, along with Anders Petersen from VO2 Partners and Hunter McCrossin from Arlon Group, which was set up in 2008.
Benjamin Fishman, managing principal of Arlon Group, said: “[Chia’s] management led by John Foss has developed leading and proprietary agronomy practices for Chia and our investment can help augment the company’s supply, brand and overall category growth.”
Founded in 2003, the Chia Company produces its own brand of chia products as well as supplying food manufacturers, such as Kellogg and Pepsico.
In December 2011, Belgium-based trader Continental Grain’s Asian investment subsidiary took a strategic stake in China-based animal feed and swine breeding company Guangxi YangXiang alongside Olympus Capital.
Hank Xu, Continental Capital’s managing director, said: “We appreciate being welcomed as a strategic investor by YangXiang and Goldstone Investment Company [the investment unit of Citic Securities].
Goldstone first invested in YangXiang in 2010.