Goya, the Jersey City, NJ-based food manufacturer that is synonymous with Latin American home cooking in the United States, has reportedly hired Goldman Sachs to explore options that may include a sale of the company that could potentially bring in as much as $3 billion.
Company CEO Robert Unanue countered this in a statement to CNBC by saying, “The future of Goya is to continue to build our family legacy and to grow the brand worldwide. For these reasons and many more, Goya is not for sale. To the contrary, over the years we have made acquisitions of other companies in order to expand the footprint of Goya Foods and we continue to do so. We periodically evaluate the company for estate planning and other purposes in the normal course of business.” However, the news outlet reported that Goldman Sachs sent out financial materials to private equity firms and has also reached out to potential corporate acquirers with a bidding deadline set for early June for initial bids.
Founded in 1936 by a Spanish immigrant named Prudencio Unanue Ortiz, the 83 year old organization is the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the United States and also a third-generation family-owned business. The company has 26 facilities throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Spain that produce over 2,200 products.