The Firmament Group (“Firmament”), a leading provider of tailored debt and equity capital solutions to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), announced today an investment in Citrus Extracts, LLC (“Citrus Extracts” or the “Company”). Citrus Extracts specializes in dehydrating citrus peel primarily for use by food and beverage manufacturers. Headquartered in Fort Pierce, FL, the Company supplies organic and conventional citrus peel in a variety of forms to meet customer formulated specifications.
As a provider of bespoke capital solutions, Firmament made an investment in the Company alongside McLean Family Farms (“MFF”) and Sweat Equities, LLC (“SE”). MFF is a family office that specializes in organic farming and investing in citrus related businesses. SE focuses on minority investments in food and beverage businesses with an emphasis in the plant based consumer products sector as well as ingredients. Specific terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“We are thrilled to join this new team,” said Matt McLean of McLean Family Farms. “We have worked with Citrus Extracts for the last five years developing a market for their products. Citrus has a myriad of proven health benefits, beyond the juice. Citrus Extracts is a leading provider of dried citrus ingredients and we’re excited about new innovation as well as our partnership with The Firmament Group and Sweat Equities,” added McLean.
Charlie Sweat from Sweat Equities said, “SE is excited to work with Bill Howe, the current President of Citrus Extracts, as well as the McLean Family Office and The Firmament Group to bring resources to the company to expand its current product line sales and create new citrus based ingredients for the food industry including plant based alternative meats, bakery goods and the cosmetic industry.”
Lisa Moraglia, Principal at Firmament, added, “We are extremely excited to partner with MFF on this transaction given their wealth of knowledge in the citrus sector. We strongly believe that MFF’s focus on the organic segment of the market is in line with consumer demands and will prove invaluable in this investment.”
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