Transaction returns a significant majority of Monogram Capital Partners II, L.P.’s (“Fund II”) capital to investors while providing Mountaintop with committed capital and an extended investment horizon to support a nearly 600,000-square-foot manufacturing footprint, additional capacity expansion, and strategic M&A.
Key Takeaways
- Monogram Capital Partners has closed a single-asset continuation vehicle for Mountaintop Beverage, transferring the company from Fund II into a newly formed vehicle.
- Apollo S3, the sponsor and secondary solutions business of Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO), led the continuation vehicle, with participation from Partners Capital, TIFF, and H7 Capital, among other institutional investors.
- The transaction returns a significant majority of Monogram Capital Partners’ Fund II capital to investors while Monogram Capital Partners and Mountaintop Beverage’s management team retain ownership of the company.
- Mountaintop Beverage’s management team, board, and operating strategy remain unchanged following the transaction, with Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Sokal continuing to lead the company.
- The continuation vehicle provides committed capital for a 250,000-square-foot capacity addition that will bring Mountaintop Beverage’s Morgantown, West Virgin manufacturing campus to nearly 600,000 square feet.
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Monogram Capital Partners (“Monogram”), a Los Angeles-based private equity firm investing in family-held and founder-led consumer and service businesses, today announced the closing of a single-asset continuation vehicle for Mountaintop Beverage (“Mountaintop” or the “Company”), a scaled manufacturer of low-acid aseptic and extended-shelf-life (ESL) beverages headquartered in Morgantown, West Virginia.
The transaction transfers Mountaintop from Fund II into a newly formed continuation vehicle led by Apollo S3, Apollo’s sponsor and secondary solutions business. Partners Capital, TIFF, and H7 Capital also participated in the transaction, alongside other institutional investors. The vehicle delivers significant liquidity to investors while positioning Monogram and Mountaintop’s management team to retain substantial exposure to the Company’s next phase of growth.
The vehicle also provides Mountaintop with committed capital and an extended investment horizon to fund its expansion program, including a 250,000-square-foot capacity addition that will bring the Company’s Morgantown, West Virginia, campus to nearly 600,000 square feet, as well as future acquisitions.
Monogram first invested in Mountaintop in August 2021, partnering with the Company’s seasoned founding team to build a state-of-the-art low-acid aseptic manufacturing platform in Morgantown, West Virginia. Over the ensuing five years, Monogram has supported the Company’s buildout of numerous high-speed low-acid aseptic and ESL beverage processing lines, establishing Mountaintop as a critical manufacturing partner to leading strategics and functional beverage brands of scale in the protein, coffee, dairy, plant-based milk alternatives, and tea categories.
“Mountaintop represents precisely the kind of business we seek to back – a technically complex, capacity constrained supply chain partner providing essential services to some of the fastest-growing brands in the consumer space. We believe the flywheel between category-leading consumer brands and the supply chain and service businesses that power them is where the most differentiated, proprietary opportunities are found, and Mountaintop is a powerful embodiment of that thesis,” said Jared Stein, Co-Founder and Partner at Monogram Capital Partners. “Demand for PET bottles and high-protein, functional beverages continues to outpace the industry’s constrained ability to produce them given the highly technical training required to do so, and low-acid aseptic processing is one of the hardest processes in beverage manufacturing to scale. Mountaintop has developed the technical capabilities, customer relationships, and operating foundation required to address that gap. Apollo S3’s investment provides strong institutional validation of the platform and positions the company to continue to execute on its ambitious expansion plan.”
“Monogram has been our foundational partner from inception, and this transaction gives us amplified resources and time to execute the next stage of Mountaintop’s growth,” said Jeff Sokal, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mountaintop. “In doing so, we are preserving the continuity that has been central to our success – the same management team, board, and operating strategy – while adding Apollo S3 as a highly experienced capital partner. With our current expansion underway and additional capital available, we believe we are well positioned to serve the high-growth needs of our customers and further extend the robust capabilities of the platform to become the largest low-acid PET bottle contract manufacturer in the country.”
“Mountaintop is a category leader with hard-to-replicate assets in a highly specialized segment of beverage manufacturing where capacity is genuinely scarce, and where patient, flexible capital can enable the company to fulfill the extensive pipeline of growth its strong operating history has catalyzed,” said Veena Isaac, Partner and Co-Head of Apollo S3. “We’re excited to partner with Monogram and management to support their efforts in building the premier low-acid aseptic contract manufacturing platform in North America.”
Houlihan Lokey served as Monogram’s advisor on the continuation vehicle in connection with the transaction, with Proskauer Rose LLP, and Massumi + Consoli LLP serving as legal counsel to Monogram. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP served as legal counsel to Apollo S3.
About Monogram Capital Partners
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Monogram Capital Partners manages approximately $1.9 billion in regulatory assets under management and invests in consumer businesses, business services, and the manufacturing and supply chain platforms that support them. Monogram partners with founders, family owners, and management teams, combining flexible capital with an operationally engaged approach to help businesses scale. For more information, please visit www.monogramcapital.com.
About Mountaintop Beverage
Mountaintop is a leading low-acid aseptic beverage co-manufacturing platform, providing manufacturing solutions to category-leading functional and better-for-you beverage brands. The company is headquartered in Morgantown, West Virginia. For more information on Mountaintop, please visit www.mountaintopbeverage.com.
About Apollo S3
S3 is Apollo’s Sponsor & Secondary Solutions business. S3 provides flexible capital solutions to asset managers and limited partners across the risk-reward spectrum. S3 is a natural extension of Apollo’s global investment platform, offering partner-oriented capital across asset classes including private equity, private credit, infrastructure, and real estate. The S3 platform has raised approximately $14 billion in total capital since launching in August 2022. To learn more about S3, please visit https://apollos3.com.
Note: The individuals listed above, including the Founder and CEO of Mountaintop, have not received any compensation for this feedback and did not invest in the Fund. The companies identified do not represent all of the companies purchased, sold, or recommended for portfolios advised by the Firm. The Firm’s complete track record, securities comprising the portfolio of the Fund are available upon request. The reader should not assume that all investments in the companies identified were or will be profitable. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.
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SOURCE Monogram Capital Partners
