Gryphon Investors’ food service portfolio, TrustHouse Services Group, has agreed to merge with Valley Services, Inc.  

Headquartered out of Charlotte, N.C., TrustHouse offers outsourced food management services to educational institutions, healthcare facilities and businesses, throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern regions.

Valley Services, which is based out of Jackson, Miss., provides food services throughout 20 states and also serves the healthcare and education sectors.  The 52 year old company specializes in providing home and congregate nutrition services to the elderly and is considered the nation’s market leader in the senior nutrition market. 

Together, TrustHouse and Valley will rank as the sixth largest food services provider in the U.S. and the fourth largest in the healthcare and education industry. The combination will push TrustHouse’s annual revenues into the $500 million range. Valley will continue to operate as a stand-alone unit and will be managed by CEO Jim Walt. 

The San Francisco-based middle-market private equity firm,Gryphon, invested in TrustHouse in 2008 and has been busy rounding up add-on to its investment. In the last 12 months, the firm assisted TrustHouse to acquire A’viands, LLC and Lindley Food Service.  

Terms of the Valley transaction were not disclosed. The press release listed McColl Partners and Legacy Capital as the investment banks that worked on the deal. Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein served as legal counsel to TrustHouse.