Group with Boulder Brands ties registers new investment fund with SEC

BOULDER — The trio that managed an investment arm of Boulder Brands Inc. filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week indicating that they’re launching a private-equity investment fund of their own.

The SEC filing shows Bill Weiland, Duane Primozich and Carole Buyers as managing partners of Bigr Ventures LP. No money has been raised for the fund yet, according to the filing. The minimum required to invest in the fund is $1 million.

Reached by telephone Thursday, Primozich declined to comment on the new venture.

Weiland, a natural-foods veteran and the CEO of Presence Marketing, partnered with Boulder Brands (Nasdaq: BDBD) in 2013 to form Boulder Brands Investment Group LLC, a fund aimed at taking minority stakes in early-stage natural and organic foods companies. The idea was to not only give those companies cash infusions but also to help them leverage Boulder Brands’ infrastructure to accelerate their growth.

Weiland, Primozich and Buyers were managing partners of the BBIG fund.

Buyers is a senior vice president of investor relations and business development for Boulder Brands. Primozich, according to an October SEC filing, left his post as a managing director of BBIG. Primozich had also previously served as executive vice president and general manager of Boulder Brands’ Balance brand. That October filing noted that Primozich would continue to serve on the BBIG board of directors.

Boulder Brands officials could not immediately be reached Thursday for comment on the status of BBIG.

Boulder Brands has suffered tough times over the past 18 months, and in November reached a deal to be acquired by Pinnacle Foods Inc. (NYSE: PF) for $710 million. That deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016.

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