THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 17, 1994 TAG: 9408170462
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEPHANIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
Richfood Holdings Inc., the largest wholesale food distributor in the mid-Atlantic, said Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire a private frozen-foods distributor for $52.8 million.
Rotelle Inc., based just outside Philadelphia, is one of the largest wholesale distributors of frozen food in the nation, with annual sales of about $340 million.
The company will become an independent subsidiary of Richmond-based Richfood, and John F. Rotelle, president of Rotelle, will keep his position in the company.
``He's second-generation family, and I think there is limited interest from the third generation,'' said John F. Stokely, an executive vice president at Richfood. ``This is more of a strategic alliance than a takeover.''
Rotelle, pronounced roh-teh-lee, sells frozen food, including ice cream and frozen bakery products. It also operates a food service division, makes ice and operates a meat-cutting facility.
Its distribution center consists of millions of square feet of freezer space and 185,000 square feet of warehouse, office and truck maintenance facilities.
Richfood has a 1.3 million square-foot distribution center in Mechanicsville that supplies more than 22,000 products to more than 750 retail grocery stores.
The company had sales of more than $1.28 billion in the fiscal year that ended April 30.
Richfood said it expects to acquire all of the outstanding stock of Rotelle within 30 days. by CNB