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Werther buys Sorbee sweets

Werther Partners LLC, New York, a private equity firm focused on food and candy, has bought Philadelphia-based sugar-free candy marketer Sorbee International Ltd., from the Stone family for an undisclosed price. The Stones ow

    by Joseph N. DiStefano
    Published 

Werther Partners LLC, New York, a food-oriented private equity firm, has bought Philadelphia-based sugar-free candy marketer Sorbee International Ltd. from the Stone family for an undisclosed price.

The Stones own Medical Products Laboratories Inc. a Northeast Philadelphia mouthwash maker. Sorbee's key assets include a license to distribute Crystal Light and Country Time drink powders from Kraft Foods.

Werther founder Dan Werther, who will run Sorbee, is a graduate of Swarthmore and of Temple's law school. In 1994 he joined that other dealmaking Philadelphian-turned-New Yorker, Ron Perelman, at his holding company, MacAndrews & Forbes, where he was a senior officer at Toy Biz Inc. and Mafco Worldwide. He also helped set up the U.S. private-equity business at Bala Cynwyd-based Susquehanna International Group.