Baking&Snack - July 2013 - 18

Canadian firm to build
US gluten-free bakery

Campbell to buy Danish
cookie maker

Fancy Pokket, a Canadian-based baking
company that makes pita bread, bagels,
pizza crusts and other baked goods, broke
ground in June for a $13 million glutenfree bakery in Lancaster, SC.
According to Fancy Pokket, the
57,000-sq-ft facility will employ 68 people.
The company stated the new bakery will
distribute products along the East Coast,
and it is expected to be up and running by
next year. The company’s main facility in
Moncton, NB, produces a range of baked
foods, but it is not a gluten-free facility.

Campbell Soup Co., Camden, NJ, has agreed
to acquire Denmark-based baked snacks
producer Kelsen Group A/S from private
equity firm Maj Invest and other investors.
“Kelsen will give Campbell a solid platform for growth in baked snacks in China
and for the expansion of our international footprint,” said Denise Morrison,
Campbell’s president and CEO.
Kelsen products are sold in 85 countries around the world and include the
Kjeldsens and Royal Dansk brands. It distributes products in Asia, South America,
the Middle East, Africa and the US. The
company exports Danish butter cookies to
China, and sales in China have grown at a
compound rate exceeding 28% during the
past three years.
Terms of the transaction were not released, and the company expects the acquisition to be mostly accretive beginning in
2014. Campbell will run Kelsen as a standalone business headquartered in Denmark.

Tyson remains on
acquisition prowl
Tyson Foods, Inc., Springdale, AR, has acquired Circle Foods LLC, San Diego, from
Claridge, Inc., a private equity investment
company headquartered in Montreal.
Circle Foods is a manufacturer of frozen
and refrigerated handheld Mexican foods,
uncooked tortillas and Indian flatbreads.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
The move is the latest by Tyson Foods to
expand its presence in the tortilla industry
and the broader realm of Mexican and prepared foods.
Circle Foods manufactures products
under the Nuevo Grille, Tortillaland
and Rotiland brands. The company has
a 159,000-sq-ft facility in San Diego and
employs around 600 people. The plant produces burritos, chimichangas, enchiladas,
quesadillas, tacos and tamales as well as
tortillas and Indian flatbreads.
Tyson Foods has been open about the
fact it wants to expand its prepared foods
offerings. In early February, the company
acquired Don Julio Foods, Clearfield, UT,
a manufacturer of flour and corn tortillas,
potato chips, tortilla chips and pretzels.
A few weeks later, Dennis Leatherby,
Tyson Foods’ CFO, said expanding the
company’s value-added offerings was
a goal.

/ Baking & Snack / July 2013

Masa flour for making naturally
colored purple corn chips and table
tortillas will be the result of a partnership agreement by Suntava,
Afton, MN, and Minsa Corp. of
Muleshoe, TX, and Red Oak, IA.
Working together, the two companies will produce masa for tortilla
and snack companies that do not
cook their own corn.
Tate & Lyle, London, acquired
Biovelop, a Swedish manufacturer of
oat beta-glucan. Financial terms of
the transaction were not disclosed.
Jan Erik Kuhlmann joined HarpakULMA Packaging, Taunton, MA, as
the company’s president.
Dr. Michael Paul Witzak took
over operational management
of RONDO Group, Burgdorf,
Switzerland. CEO Robert Rohrer
will move over to the board
of directors.

Bimbo’s CEO receives
international executive award
Daniel Servitje, CEO of Mexico Citybased Grupo Bimbo SAB de CV, became
the first non-US executive to receive the
International Executive of the Year Award
from the Chicago Executives’ Club, an
organization founded in 1911 that brings
together the most important business
leaders, academics, government officials,
diplomats and philanthropists.
The award was established in 1995 to
recognize business leaders who have made
exceptional contributions to the global
business community. Past recipients include Bill Gates, chairman and CEO of
Microsoft, and Samuel Palmisano, chairman and CEO of IBM Corp.
During the awards ceremony, Mr. Servitje
discussed the sustained growth of the Bimbo,
Marinela and Barcel brands in the US. The
brands serve mainly Mexican and Latino con-

sumers living in the US and are expanding to serve consumers in other markets,
he said. Mr. Servitje noted the brands
first were introduced to the US market in
Chicago, Los Angeles and Houston and
now are moving nationwide.
— Eric Schroeder,
Milling & Baking News

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Baking&Snack - July 2013

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