(Bloomberg) -- Chobani’s adjusted earnings doubled in the first nine months of 2023 as the yogurt company cut costs and generated 14% sales growth, according to bond offering documents reviewed by Bloomberg. 

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation climbed to $325.2 million for the period through Sept. 30 from $162.1 million a year earlier, the documents show. Net sales climbed to $1.75 billion.

A spokesperson for Chobani declined to comment.

The firm has the largest share of the US yogurt market at 21% for the year ended Dec. 2, it said citing Nielsen data. Chobani, which also sells coffee creamers and oat milk, last month acquired ready-to-drink coffee maker La Colombe for $900 million.

Closely held Chobani, controlled by founder and Chief Executive Officer Hamdi Ulukaya, this week sold $500 million of CCC-rated 7.625% bonds in part to redeem 7.5% notes due next year. The company last month obtained a $550 million leveraged loan to help fund an acquisition it didn’t provide details of at the time. 

Ulukaya started Chobani in 2005, when he bought a shuttered yogurt plant in upstate New York with a Small Business Administration loan. He had immigrated to the US from Turkey and was struck by the quality of American yogurt, which Ulukaya found overly sweet and full of additives. He began making Greek-style natural yogurt, and the category almost immediately saw explosive growth. Chobani’s sales quintupled from 2009 through 2012, and Ulukaya was a billionaire by the end of that year.

--With assistance from Paula Seligson, Gowri Gurumurthy and Devon Pendleton.

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