In 1981, Metropoulos made his first acquisition of Stella Foods Inc., a Vermont-based cheese company, which later sold to
Robert Bass for $375 million. Some of the buy-build private equity transactions of Metropoulos have included
Pinnacle Foods,
Ghirardelli Chocolate Company,
International Home Foods,
Pabst Brewing Company, The Morningstar Group, Inc. (sold to Suiza Foods which has become
Dean Foods), Solar Marine ("a private, European based, international dry cargo shipping company"),
Bumble Bee Foods,
Vlasic Pickles, and
Mumm's/
Perrier-Jouët champagnes. As of 2011, C. Dean Metropoulos & Co. has been involved in over 72 acquisitions with over $12 billion in invested capital. The sale represented a gain of $550 million more than what the company paid for it in 2010.
Bumble Bee Tuna is another brand owned by a company "bought and flipped" by the firm. On July 7, 2015 there were rumors of a
Hostess Brands IPO. Metropoulos stated that there was no plan for an IPO. In July 2016, a Hostess IPO was announced. In February 2021, Nestlé SA agreed to sell most of its North American bottled-water brands, including Poland Spring, Arrowhead and Pure Life, to Metropoulos & Co and One Rock Capital Partners LLC for $4.3 billion. ==Personal life==