The General Mills Pillsbury plant has been sold to The Sazerac Company. Credit: PRNewsfoto/New Mill Capital Holdings and Tiger Group.

US-based distilling company Sazerac has acquired the General Mills Pillsbury plant from a joint venture (JV) between New Mill Capital Holdings (NMCH) and Tiger Group.

Located in New Albany, Indiana, the General Mills Pillsbury was closed in 2016.

With an investment of $66m in the 460,000ft² plant, Sazerac intends to expand its processing, blending, packaging and distribution capabilities. The company expects to begin commercial operations by November this year with the installation of two production lines.

“We worked tirelessly as a team to ready this plant for its next phase.”

NMCH principal Tom Murray said: “When we acquired this plant in late 2016, we knew we’d have our work cut out for us.

“But in partnership with the city of New Albany, One Southern Indiana, the Indiana Economic Development Council and our commercial brokers (Matt Hartlage of JLL and Jeff Counsell of Global Food Properties), we worked tirelessly as a team to ready this plant for its next phase and to put it in a position to best attract a company of Sazerac’s calibre.”

The company will initially hire 50 new employees and increase the workforce to 110 by 2021.

Sazerac manufacturing vice-president Jeff Conder said: “We are excited to take this final step towards acquiring our new location in New Albany. It will be a great complement to our other manufacturing locations.

“We are eager to begin construction, start the hiring process, and to get this plant up and running by the end of this year.”