News

ProspEquity Partners has acquired a majority stake in Miami-based Tierra Nueva Fine Cocoa LLC, a chocolate and coffee technology company. No financial terms were disclosed.

PRESS RELEASE

TAMPA, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ProspEquity Partners (PEP), an emerging private equity firm building shareowner value through conscious capitalism and a dedication to people and local communities, announces it has purchased a majority stake in Miami-based Tierra Nueva Fine Cocoa, LLC.

The transaction creates a partnership between PEP’s world-class operational executive expertise and ecosystem of strategic partners and advisors and Tierra Nueva’s industry-leading coffee product development team to launch a coffee revolution that will rapidly scale Tierra Nueva’s worldwide market penetration.

Beginning with a rich family history in high quality chocolate manufacturing and coffee distribution, Tierra Nueva has successfully expanded into whole bean coffee processing that has resulted in a variety of exciting new products using 100 percent of the coffee bean.

THE CREATION OF A BRAND NEW CATEGORY: EDIBLE COFFEE; POTENTIAL FOR GLOBAL DISRUPTION OF THE INDUSTRY
“Tierra Nueva has an IP-enabled technology using proprietary equipment that enables it to process 100 percent of roasted coffee beans to create a coffee concentrate. This unique, robustly flavorful and 12-plus-month shelf-stable concentrate can be used as a branded ingredient for a variety of large scale applications, including frozen desserts, bakery, confectionery and ready-to-drink products. Tierra Nueva’s initial high quality, edible coffee products sold at stores like Fresh Market, 7-Eleven and Wawa are exceedingly well received in the market place,” declared Christopher D. Ramonetti, Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer of ProspEquity Partners. “Whole bean means the environmentally-friendly process can reduce coffee raw material costs by more than 30 percent, and creates significantly less waste – results unprecedented in the coffee industry.”

With its proven and already-scaled manufacturing and distribution process, Ramonetti said Tierra Nueva has the potential to immediately disrupt the growing $74-billion global coffee market.

“Tierra Nueva has also already successfully done something rarely seen in the consumer packaged goods space – they have created a whole new product category,” he explained. “This is beyond exciting with enormous potential. No other company in the world has created an Edible Coffee product category like this, especially one that is environmentally responsible and has true global potential.

“The minute we visited their test kitchen and experienced their product, we were overwhelmed with the potential with their amazing flavor and unlimited applications,” added Ramonetti. “These are not just products. Tierra Nueva has created a coffee experience. Tierra Nueva is an exceptional investment opportunity fit for PEP in our portfolio for the global consumer packaged goods space,” commented Ramonetti.

TIERRA NUEVA EXECUTIVES ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT PARTNERSHIP
“I have had more than 35 years of experience in commodities and emerging markets specializing in coffee futures, and I and the executive team at Tierra Nueva couldn’t be happier about the potential for this very lucrative partnership with ProspEquity Partners,” said Tierra Nueva Chairman and Shareholder Victor Henriquez, founder of the Hencorp Coffee Group and president of Hencorp Becstone Capital. “Over the past year, ProspEquity Partners has proven to us they have the talent, experience, vision, financial and management acumen, and the access and connections to help Tierra Nueva revolutionize the traditional brewed coffee technology industry and become the global leader in whole bean technology. We’re teaming up with them to make that happen!”

“It is an exciting time for Tierra Nueva as this partnership will provide us with the opportunity to reach a whole new level, especially ahead of the upcoming launch of a licensed coffee product with one of the largest coffee company brands in the world,” said Tierra Nueva Executive and Shareholder John Alexander.

ABOUT PROSPEQUITY PARTNERS
ProspEquity Partners is a private equity firm committed to building prosperity beyond wealth with a unique, three-tiered business philosophy that differentiates ProspEquity Partners in the private equity space:

We invest and inspire people because people are the transformative competitive advantage and key to innovation, productivity, growth and profitability.

We infuse not just capital and expertise, but proven methodologies and processes that enhance the culture and entrepreneurial spirit of portfolio companies.

We sincerely believe that prosperity means superior and lasting economic and social value for all stakeholders, including investors, employees, customers and the community.

ProspEquity Partners works intimately with family offices and other independent sponsor limited partners to identify and invest in growth equity in direct investment opportunities, generally between $3M and $30M. PEP utilizes its ecosystem of expertise and access to aggressively scale proven product or service offerings toward a major exit through initial public offering or strategic acquisition. For further information regarding current investment opportunities, please contact us at [email protected].

ABOUT TIERRA NUEVA
Over the past four years, Tierra Nueva has product tested, piloted and nationally launched various formats for branded and privately labeled Coffee Thins™, Coffee Squares, Coffee Spreads and coffee ingredient products.

Tierra Nueva employs more than 80 at its 42,000-square-foot SQF3, kosher and Halal certified facility in Miami, Fla., opened in 2009. The company was founded in 2009 as a chocolate manufacturing, packaging and distribution company with principal business concentrated on the confectionery retail chocolate and private label markets in the U.S. Tierra Nueva developed proprietary technology to start a pivot to coffee in 2012.