CHICAGO — Private equity firm Tricor Pacific Capital has acquired Gold Standard Baking from Arbor Investments. Based in Chicago, Gold Standard makes frozen laminated dough products sold through grocery retailers, food service distributors, quick-serve restaurant chains, commissaries and convenience stores throughout North America.  Financial terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 1987 as a neighborhood bakery of bread, cakes and sweet goods, Gold Standard was purchased by East Balt, a major Chicago-based bun producer, in the 1990s. In 2002, Yianny and George Caparos acquired the small bakery from East Balt and grew the business into a strong regional bakery. In 2008, Arbor Investments acquired a controlling interest in Gold Standard and embarked upon a growth plan backed by a $40 million investment in equipment and facilities that transformed the company into the largest manufacturer of specialty croissants and strip Danish products in the United States.

Reflecting on the Gold Standard investment, Arbor’s president and co-founder, Joseph Campolo, stated, “Yianny and George Caparos were extraordinary partners. The Arbor and Gold Standard teams worked closely during our partnership and significantly expanded production capacity and product capability. The Caparos brothers executed our strategic vision flawlessly. We were very fortunate to work with entrepreneurs of such high integrity, unmatched baking expertise and superior management skill. Incredibly, during our eight-year ownership, Gold Standard Baking quadrupled in size, and Fund II, inclusive of cash proceeds received in connection with two dividend recaps during our ownership period, realized a 9.4x gross return on its investment.”

Yianny Caparos added, “Arbor has been an inestimable partner during Gold Standard’s period of tremendous growth providing the company with needed capital, human resources and strategic direction. Without the symbiotic Arbor relationship, Gold Standard would not be the success it is today.”

Tricor Capital’s current portfolio includes Tiger Calcium, one of the largest manufacturers and suppliers of calcium chloride products in North America; BFG Supply, a distributor of supplies to the U.S. greenhouse growing, nursery and professional turf industries; and Strong Precision Technologies, a manufacturer of precision-machined components serving the medical and industrial markets. The investment firm previously held a stake in Golden Boy Foods Ltd., a Canadian manufacturer, marketer and distributor of more than 400 private label and branded food products, including peanut butter, baking nuts, snacking nuts, trail mixes, raisins and dried fruits, before selling its interest in February 2014.