Milling & Baking News - August 12, 2008 - 10

Business

Columbia Grain acquires several
grain elevators from AGP
PORTLAND, ORE. - Columbia Grain
Inc. on Aug. 1 purchased eight grain elevators and the related agronomy business from Ag Processing Inc. (AGP).
Assets acquired include an export
facility in Duluth, Minn., two 110 car
shuttle loading facilities on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway,
five country elevators and two farm
supply locations.
Subsequent to closing the transaction, Columbia Grain sold the Duluth

elevator to Whitebox Holdings, a Minneapolis-based hedge fund.
The acquisition will expand Columbia Grain's geographic reach deep into
North Dakota, said Thomas J. Hammond, president and chief executive
officer.
"We have worked with AGP for
many years to originate grain from
the Upper Midwest," Mr. Hammond
said. "This purchase significantly increases our supplies in the North Da-

Local owners to acquire Love's Bakery in Hawaii
HONOLULU - A group of Hawaiian managers led by Mike Walters has
agreed to purchase Daiichiya-Love's
Bakery in Honolulu from Japan-based
First Baking Company, Ltd. The transaction is expected to be finalized in
60 days.
Mr. Walters, currently
president and chief executive officer of DaiichiyaLove's Bakery, will acquire
a majority stake in the
company, whose name
will revert back to Love's
Bakery Inc. Prior to joining
Love's Bakery in 2002 as
president, Mr. Walters was general manager of the northern California region for
Interstate Bakeries Corp. since 1995.
In addition to Mr. Walters, investors
include Byron Chong, vice-president and
director of sales and marketing; Alan
Yamada, director of administration; and
Jean Hagi, director of human resources.

Other local managers and Hawaiian executives who helped put the purchase plan
in place included Warren Luke, chairman
and c.e.o. of Hawaii National Bank; Senator Daniel Inouye; Guy Fujimura, ILWU
Local 142 union secretary and treasurer;
and Richard Botti, president of the Hawaii Food
Industry Association.
Founded
in
1851,
Love's Bakery sells fresh
bread, rolls and sweet
goods under the Love's,
Roman Meal and Milton's brands. The company, which has annual
sales of about $50 million, also supplies private label bakery brands for
many of Hawaii's grocery stores. It is
the only large commercial high-speed
bakery producing fresh baked bread in
Hawaii. The company's bakery facility
is located on Oahu, and the company
has branch operations on the islands of

Gerards Bakery abruptly ceases operations
LONGMONT, COLO. - Gerards Bakery, L.L.C., an artisan baking company
founded in 1972 and subsequently
acquired in 1997 by Mountain View
Harvest Cooperative, abruptly ceased
operations on July 24.
According to an article in The Denver
Post, workers at the Gerards Bakery in
Firestone, Colo., were told early July 24
that the company was out of business
and they would no longer have a job. The
workers then were told that paychecks
scheduled to be handed out on July 24
would not be, leaving employees without
pay for their past two weeks of work.
In addition to its Longmont plant,
Gerards has closed its facilities in Liv-

10 / August 12, 2008

Milling & Baking News

ermore, Calif., and Mount Airy, N.C.
According to its web site, Gerards is
a manufacturer of premium par-baked
bread and rolls for frozen distribution to
all 50 states and Canada. The company's
customers included Quiznos and IHOP.
"We have distinguished ourselves
with our customers by providing premium quality breads by working with
our customers to develop distinctive
new products," the company's web
site said. "Our cheese-enrobing process is at the industry forefront, and
our commitment to using the finest
ingredients, and no preservatives, has
made us an industry favorite from
coast to coast." MBN

kota Red River Valley and will allow
us to increase our diversity of grain
products that we can offer to our
domestic and export customers. We
look forward to working with producers in North Dakota who grow
and supply high quality grain for
our customers around the world."
With the acquisition (and subsequent sale), Columbia Grain will own
and operate 45 grain elevators with a
combined storage capacity of 1 million
tonnes (39 million bus). Many of the
facilities feed the company's export elevator in Portland while others service
domestic markets. MBN

Kauai, Maui, the Big Island, and Molokai.
Love's Bakery was locally owned and
operated from 1851 to 1968, and for the
past 27 years has been owned by First
Baking Company, Ltd., which acquired
the company in December 1981 from ITT
Continental Baking Co.
Mr. Walters was first given the option
to acquire sole ownership in the company this past May, but he opted to offer his managers a minority stake in the
business instead.
Mr. Walters said the new ownership
plans to implement various efficiency
measures and capital investments, including the addition of new boilers and
air compressors. Long term, Mr. Walters
said the company hopes to substantially
reduce distribution expenses to neighboring islands. MBN

Dover completes purchase
of Cereal Foods Canada
BURLINGTON, ONT. - Dover Industries
Ltd., which operates flour mills in Ontario,
Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan, has finalized the purchase of the Cereal Foods Canada, Inc. flour milling assets of Cereal Food
Processors, Inc. in Montreal. The transaction was first announced in early July.
The Cereal Foods Canada mill has
daily capacity of 4,000 cwts and brings
Dover Industries total wheat flour capacity to 32,800 cwts, according to the
Grain & Milling Annual 2008 published
by Sosland Publishing Co.
Dover said it will retain present management and operational personnel at the
mill to ensure current customer service
and quality.
Cereal Food Processors acquired the
Montreal mill from ADM Agri-Industries
in September 1998. ADM had been ordered
by the Canadian Competition Bureau to
sell the mill as part of its acquisition in 1997
of Maple Leaf Mills Inc. MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com

Milling & Baking News - August 12, 2008

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