Bahrain's Investcorp Buys US Gourmet Food Distributor

Bahrain-based Investcorp has announced that it has acquired Fortune International, a super-regional specialty distributor of seafood and gourmet food products.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Fortune was founded in 2001 by CEO Sean O’Scannlain, who will continue to lead the company and maintain a significant ownership stake, Investcorp said in a statement.

It added that Fortune has grown to become one of the largest seafood and specialty food distributors in the US.

Fortune distributes fresh seafood, frozen seafood and gourmet foods across the Midwestern US and has continually expanded its geographic footprint by acquiring specialty distributors in strategic markets.

“Specialty foodservice distribution in the United States is a highly fragmented, resilient and growing $40 billion market,” said Hazem Ben-Gacem, co-CEO at Investcorp. “We believe that Fortune is well-positioned to capture significant share with its unique platform as a scaled, specialty seafood enterprise delivering superior product quality and service across a wide breadth of products.”

O'Scannlain added: "With the support of Investcorp’s resources and expertise, we believe that Fortune will be well positioned to execute on management’s growth strategy by providing customers with the best quality products and expanding in core and adjacent geographies, while continuing to uphold our rigorous sustainability standards.”