Sunrise Growers Inc. in Placentia was sold to Sun-Opta Inc. for about $444 million by its private equity owner Paine & Partners LLC.
Sunrise produces frozen strawberries and other frozen fruit products.
Sun-Opta is a Toronto-area food processor with a market cap of about $363 million.
San Mateo-based Paine bought Sunrise in 2013 for an undisclosed sum from previous owner Sun Capital Partners Inc., based in Boca Raton, Fla., which had paid about $33 million in 2008 for the food processor.
The value of Sunrise’s strawberry production when Paine bought it in 2013 was estimated at about $100 million. Paine added three acquisitions to the company over the last two years.
Sun-Opta funded the acquisition through $330 million in borrowing and $100 million in new common stock.
