Nestle's sale of Poland Spring to private investors closes
File photo
Poland Spring, whose Kingfield bottling site is shown here, has been purchased by a private equity group in a sale that closed this week.
The sale of the Poland Spring water business is official, as of Thursday, but whether there will be any changes in Maine is not yet clear.
Nestle SA, which sold Poland Spring to private equity interests, had a one-line press release Thursday saying the deal had closed but offered no other information.
The deal, which was first announced in February, included regional spring water brands, including Maine-based Poland Spring, to a pair of private equity firms for $4.3 billion.
The buyers are an affiliate of One Rock Capital Partners LLC, a New York-based investment firm focused on high-potential middle market businesses, and Metropoulos & Co., a family-owned backer of several food and beverage brands including Hostess Brands, Utz snacks, Pabst Brewing Co. beer and Ghirardelli Chocolates. Dean Metropoulos serves as CEO of the company.
Besides Poland Spring, the sale included the Deer Park, Ozarka, Ice Mountain, Zephyrhills, Arrowhead, Pure Life and Splash natural spring water brands, which had 2019 combined sales of $3.8 billion. The deal also included the U.S. direct-to-consumer and office beverage delivery service ReadyFresh.
Here’s a thumbnail of Poland Spring's impact in Maine:
- It draws water from 10 locations in Maine: Poland Spring, Cold Spring, Clear Spring, Spruce Spring, Garden Spring, Evergreen Spring, White Cedar Spring, Bradbury Spring, Bella Luna Spring and Ellis Spring, according to the Nestle website.
- It buys water from Fryeburg, Rumford and Lincoln.
- Poland Spring has bottling plants in Poland, Hollis and Kingfield.
- In Maine it has about 800 to 900 employees, according to various accounts.
- Employees make an average of $54,000 a year, including pay and benefits, according to a backgrounder on the Nestle website.
- Poland Spring buys either spring water from a local water district at rates approved by the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC), or it buys land and develops the resource just as a logging company might.
- A 2016 study by Maine economist Chuck Lawton said that Poland Spring has a total economic impact of $390 million for Maine companies, while supporting an equivalent of 2,300 full-time jobs with income totaling nearly $120 million.
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