Union Confectionery Machinery selling NECCO equipment, intellectual property

Necco wafers, Sweethearts, Canada Mints not for sale.

Union Confectionery Machinery has been tapped by a third-party buyer to sell assets from New England Confectionery Co. (NECCO) after the company abruptly closed last week.

The Necco wafer maker announced in March it would need to find a buyer to avoid laying off nearly 400 employees. After a May bankruptcy auction, Round Hill Investments purchased the company for $17.3 million under an entity called Sweetheart Candy Co.

The Metropoulos family-owned investment firm, which had a record of reinvigorating floundering food companies, told the Boston Globe last week it decided to sell NECCO again.

“Round Hill Investments was very excited to acquire NECCO’s historic brands and to be part of their national resurgence,” the company told the Boston Globe July 24. “After careful engagement and consideration, however, the firm decided to sell the brands to another national confection manufacturer and today announced the closure of the operations in Revere, Mass.”

Jim Greenberg, co-president of Union Confectionery Machinery, said his company has been enlisted by the buyer to be the exclusive liquidator of the majority of NECCO’s intellectual property and machinery. The buyer has not been named.

Intellectual property and equipment are available for Mary Jane, Mighty Malt Milk Balls, Haviland Thin Mints, Candy Buttons, Clark Bar, Slap Stix and Banana Splits brands. Available equipment includes enrobing lines, starch moguls, coating pans, chocolate tanks, cut and wrap lines for taffy and toffee, baggers, flow wrappers, kitchens for soft candy, peanut roasting, blanching and peanut butter milling and liquid and dry storage tanks, among other machinery.

Necco wafers, Sweethearts and Canada Mints are not for sale.

Any unsold intellectual property and machinery will be sold at public auction at the Revere, Mass. factory and simulcast online during the week of Sept. 23.

Alyse Thompson has held many positions with BNP Media, first serving as an intern at Candy Industry Magazine in summer 2012. She joined Candy Industry's staff full time as associate editor in August 2016 after a few years at newspapers in West-Central Illinois, becoming managing editor in March 2019. Alyse has also served as managing editor of Cannabis Products Magazine since March 2019. She has bachelor’s degrees in journalism and Spanish from Western Illinois University.