Corporación Multi Inversiones Acquires Del Real Foods

Ready-to-heat Hispanic food brand Del Real Foods is now majority owned by multilatina corporation Corporación Multi Inversiones (CMI) after private equity firm Palladium Equity Partners entered a definitive agreement to sell its shares this week.

Palladium will remain a minority shareholder, per terms of the deal, in addition to the Cardenas family who founded Del Real Foods in 1957. Palladium acquired a majority stake from the Cardenas in 2016; the family also founded Hispanic grocery chain Cardenas Market, now a subsidiary of the Heritage Grocers Group, which is owned by Apollo Global Management.

“For the past 27 years, we have generated strong returns for our investors by partnering with visionary founders, entrepreneurs and business leaders like the Cardenas family and now the Gutierrez and broader CMI family,” said Marcos Rodriguez, chairman and CEO of Palladium, in a press release. “We believe that CMI… is a perfect fit for Del Real. The transaction represents the third portfolio exit of 2024, which will result in realizations totaling over $1 billion to our funds and making 2024 the largest distribution year in Palladium’s history.”

Del Real, which operates manufacturing plants in Mira Loma, Calif., and Moore, Okla., sells a wide variety of refrigerated Hispanic foods including seasoned beef, chicken and pork products, tamales, pupusas, rice, salsas and meal kits for tacos and fajitas. The products are sold in club stores, grocery retailers, foodservice, K-12 markets and wholesale channels across the U.S. Earlier this year, the brand underwent a packaging update and expanded select products into Sam’s Club stores.

The Hispanic food brand is joining an organization with significant scale in both the U.S. and Latin American markets. Family-owned, 104-year-old CMI has over 50,000 team members, operates in 16 countries and brings a longstanding focus on both food and capital investments. The Guatemalan company operates ingredient businesses with over 60 wheat and corn flour brands, pasta and cookie manufacturing as well as poultry, pork and sausage processing operations.

“We are grateful to the Cardenas family and Palladium for their invaluable support in enabling this growth,” said José Gregorio Baquero, CEO of CMI Foods. “This partnership will strengthen our U.S. presence and unlock new opportunities for expansion. The ‘secret sauce’ behind CMI’s success is that we are a family-owned business, which gives us a long-term vision focused on the well-being of our people and building lasting relationships with our partners and consumers.”

The company also operates a variety of restaurants as well as a range of pet nutrition brands. The acquisition of Del Real will grow the company’s geographic footprint in the U.S. where it has been “aggressively expanding” one of its restaurant chains, Pollo Campero, and recently reached 122 locations nationwide. According to CMI, the deal will bring a wider array of products to Del Real’s lineup and expand its market presence.

“After 22 years in the U.S. with Pollo Campero, this investment in Del Real Foods, along with our new partners, the Cardenas family and Palladium, significantly expands our footprint in this geography, giving CMI a unique position to continue its growth plan in the U.S. market,” said Juan José Gutiérrez, chairman of CMI Foods. “We remain deeply committed to investing in all the countries and communities that have supported our journey and seen us grow, while paving the way for future success over the next century.”