December 16, 2004 by Brett Cole Bloomberg News Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) - Hershey Foods Corp., the chocolate company founded almost 150 years ago, bought Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp. from buyout firm TSG Consumer Partners for $130 million in cash. Mauna Loa buys macadamia nuts from farmers and processes them at its factory in Hilo, Hawaii. It has annual revenue of about $80 million a year, Charles Esserman, a partner and co-founder at TSG, said in an interview today. San Francisco-based TSG bought Mauna Loa for $40 million - $25 million in equity and the rest in debt - in September 2000. TSG has about $800 million under management, Esserman said. "We were approached by Hershey directly," Esserman said. The company "offered us a very attractive price." Hershey's public relations department wasn't available for comment. Editor: McCabe. Copyright © 2004 Bloomberg News Copyright © 2008 TSG Consumer Partners. All Rights Reserved.