Blue Bell Creameries LP reported Tuesday that it has received an
investment from investor Sid Bass, as the ice cream maker works to
recover from a sweeping recall of all its products because of a
deadly listeria outbreak.
Further financial terms weren't disclosed. A representative
declined to comment.
"The additional capital will ensure the successful return of our
ice cream to the market and our loyal customers," said Chief
Executive Paul Kruse.
Mr. Bass has managed long-term investments, notably at Walt
Disney Co. He is also active in the carbon and oil and gas
businesses.
Blue Bell, a family-owned Texas company that ranks among the
nation's largest ice-cream makers, announced a voluntary recall of
all its products in April after identifying contaminated samples
through a testing program. Those tests followed a recall by the
company in March—the first in its 108-year history-after the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked Blue Bell ice
cream to three deaths at a Kansas hospital and additional illnesses
in Kansas and Texas.
Listeria is a virulent pathogen that thrives in cool, wet
environments. It typically doesn't cause serious illnesses in
healthy people but poses a threat to pregnant women, newborns,
older adults and people with weakened immune systems.
Blue Bell sells ice cream in 23 states. The bacteria was first
tracked in March to its Texas plant and later its facility in
Broken Arrow, Okla.
In May, the company said would lay off 37% of its 3,900
employees, as it works to recover from the recall.
Blue Bell ranked third in U.S. ice cream sales last year—behind
Nestlé SA, the maker of Edy's, and Unilever PLC, which makes Ben
& Jerry's—with about $880 million in sales, according to
market-research firm Euromonitor International.
Write to Angela Chen at angela.chen@dowjones.com
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