Walnut Acres' Parent Acquires Spectrum's Pasta Sauces

ARLINGTON, Va.--Acirca Inc. (www.acirca.com), based here, acquired the organic pasta sauce lines from Petaluma, Calif.-based Spectrum Organic Products Inc. (www.spectrumorganic.com). Spectrum's certified-organic sauce lines--Millina's Finest and Fruitti Di Bosco--are the country's second largest brand of organic pasta sauces behind Five Points, Calif.-based Muir Glen. According to Acirca, the company now has a 22-percent market share of this food category. Acirca has acquired the sales and marketing of these sauces, but other terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Acirca, which last year relaunched the Walnut Acres brand after purchasing the company, stated that this acquisition will create a more "diversified" product line for the company. "Acirca has the resources available to take the business to a higher level than Spectrum could have accomplished in the near term," said Jethren Phillips, chief executive officer of Spectrum, which still markets organic oil, butter and margarine products, as well as dietary supplements. "The transaction will provide Spectrum with new working capital to invest in our rapidly growing core businesses of EFA [essential fatty acid] food and supplement products."

Acirca had been looking for an occasion to enter the sauce industry, according to Michael Neuwirth, corporate communications manager at Acirca. "We had a business relationship with Spectrum that preceded and will succeed this acquisition, particularly with their organic ingredients division," Neuwirth said. "This acquisition has put their sauce business into a home with a management team [at Acirca] that wants to develop this business. The addition of organic pasta sauces complements the existing line of soups and salsas. We see a tremendous opportunity for cross-promotion among these categories because they are so closely related to the fresh fruit and vegetable sector."