Richmond Cold Storage, founded here more than 100 years ago, has been sold to a San Francisco-based investment firm that already owns several cold-storage companies, mostly on the West Coast.
The sale to Bay Grove Capital LLC for an undisclosed amount calls for Richmond Cold Storage's current management to continue running the company from its offices off West Broad Street near Staples Mill Road.
Michael McClendon, Richmond Cold Storage's president, said the company's management team helped connect Bay Grove with Richmond Cold Storage owners, Atlanta Equity Fund LP, about six months ago.
At the time, Atlanta Equity was considering what to do with the company and the management team wanted to be proactive in order to protect jobs and ensure its future, he said.
"We knew Bay Grove [by reputation], and we brought them to the table," he said. The new owners "fit our philosophy and culture."
As part of the deal, Bay Grove will keep all of the about 500 employees who work for Richmond Cold Storage, McClendon said.
Richmond Cold Storage is now focused "on sending a clear message to employees and customers" that the company is operating as usual, he said.
McClendon assumed the presidency of the Richmond-based company in 2007. He was promoted by then Chairman and CEO Frank "Pepper" Laughon Jr., who had been president since 1973.
The Laughon family bought Richmond Cold Storage in 1949. The company was founded in Richmond in 1907.
Atlanta Equity bought the company in May 2009.
Richmond Cold Storage operates a network of temperature-controlled warehouses in Virginia as well as North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. It said it has about 57 million cubic feet of warehouse space.
Being bought by Bay Grove gives Richmond Cold Storage the opportunity to grow, McClendon said.
"Their holdings are primarily on the West Coast, so we can become their hub on the East Coast" along with another Bay Grove unit that's based in Georgia, McClendon said.
"The acquisition of RCS advances our vision to become a pre-eminent player in the national cold storage logistics industry," Kevin Marchetti, Bay Grove's managing director, said in a statement. "As this platform grows, so does our ability to offer customers a broader range of logistics and cold storage services."
Bay Grove owns Terminal Freezers, Flint River Service and West Coast Cold, the parent company CityIce and Seafreeze Cold Storage.
In all, Bay Grove operates a combined 130 million cubic feet of warehouse space.
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