Houlihan Lokey Advises Millbo

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Millbo S.r.l. (Millbo), a portfolio company of Apheon (the sponsor), has acquired a majority stake in Cain Food Industries, Inc. (Cain), a U.S.-based blender and distributor of clean-label ingredients for the bakery industry. The transaction closed on 7 August 2025. Houlihan Lokey acted as exclusive buyside and financing advisor to Millbo.

Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Texas, Cain is a trusted supplier of clean-label bakery ingredients to approximately 250 customers across North America and, more recently, Latin America. The company operates two certified facilities in Dallas, Texas, with integrated manufacturing, blending, and warehousing capabilities.

Millbo, based in Italy, produces natural ingredients for the bakery industry and was created through Apheon’s simultaneous acquisition in December 2020 of Millbo (Italy) and its largest customer, BioNaturals (U.S.), a transaction in which Houlihan Lokey served as sellside advisor.

Apheon is a pan-European middle-market private equity firm with approximately €3 billion of assets under management and offices in Brussels, Milan, Madrid, Paris, Munich, and Amsterdam.

The acquisition of Cain marks a transformational step for Millbo, creating a vertically integrated global leader in the clean-label bakery ingredients sector. The combined group will benefit from complementary R&D capabilities, expanded production capacity, and enhanced market access to meet growing global demand for natural preservation solutions.

Houlihan Lokey supported Millbo throughout the process, providing buyside and debt advisory services.

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