Oceanside's Suja Life Acquired By Food Chain Private Equity Firm

OCEANSIDE, CA — At Suja Life’s headquarters in Oceanside, millions of colorful bottles filled with ingredients like kale and ginger roll off conveyor belts every week. The state-of the art Suja Juice factory sources local, organic fruits and vegetables, and using breakthrough displacement technology called High Pressure Processing (HPP), allows the company to go from farm to bottle in around a week.

Suja invested an estimated $30 million in their Oceanside plant helping propel Suja Juice to become the nation’s leading organic and cold-pressed juice brand. The company first hit $100 million in revenue in 2018 and in just the last 3 years is now estimated to have reached close to $200 million in an unprecedented year for Suja in both revenue and profit. Considering the company was founded not quite 10 years ago it's an incredible accomplishment in such a competitive market as organic juice.

No wonder companies like CocaCola invested in this fast-growing Oceanside company. However, it was private equity firm Paine Schwartz Partners that ended up acquiring Suja Life in a deal announced earlier this month by company press release. According to the release Paine Schwartz Partners, is a global leader in sustainable food chain investing, from Goldman Sachs Asset Management and co-investors. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

From Suja CEO, Bob Deborde: “Suja has made a big investment in Oceanside and believes it is a perfect location for our business. We are committed to remaining and growing our business in Oceanside as it is centrally located for our fresh produce used in our juices. We look forward to continuing to provide great products and jobs for Oceanside and the greater San Diego community.”

The company confirmed by email that the acquisition of Suja Life will have no impact on the current Oceanside operations and the company will continue to be headquartered in Oceanside.

Ever wondered how Suja bottles up all of that plant power and gets it into your hands? Take a virtual tour through the Oceanside, CA production facility and see for yourself!

Suja launched in May 2012 and quickly rose to fame among consumers, investors and celebrities alike, gaining a loyal following for its clean, nutritious and plant-based offerings. Shortly after its launch, Suja became the nation's leading organic, cold-pressured beverage brand, helping to democratize organic offerings to consumers, while delivering health without punishment. In the years since launch, Suja won some of the industry's most coveted awards including Whole Foods Market Supplier of the Year and multiple NEXTY awards.

"I'm excited to see Suja achieve so much success after the almost 10-year journey of this amazing brand and I could not be more excited for the next chapter," said James Brennan, Suja Co-Founder. "Suja has experienced two phases of rapid growth, the initial years after the brand was founded and then again since 2018. The Suja team has delivered fantastic results in recent years. Outside of our internal team, I would also like to thank Nicole Agnew of Goldman Sachs for having the vision to lead a recapitalization of the company last year."

"Suja's success has led them to become a household brand, and we're thrilled to have been part of the journey," commented Nicole Agnew, Managing Director in Goldman Sachs Asset Management. "We are grateful to the whole team for their stewardship of the company during the global pandemic and for giving us the confidence to increase our ownership of the company last year."

Suja decided to partner with Paine Schwartz Partners, noting their shared purpose in offering consumers better-for-your plant-based options. "We are incredibly excited to partner with the Suja team at this inflection point in the company's growth trajectory," said Kevin Schwartz, CEO of Paine Schwartz Partners. "Suja sits at the center of our company's investment ethos - products that deliver great-tasting, functional ingredients that are as healthy for you as they are delicious. Personally, I am also a longtime, loyal consumer of Suja's innovative product line. We look forward to supporting the company in this next phase of growth, investing behind new products and expanding distribution to bring Suja to even more consumers everywhere."

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