Milling & Baking News - September 1, 2015 - 10

Business X

Ardent Mills grows in Toronto area
with acquisition from Mondelez
DENVER - Ardent Mills L.L.C. on
Aug. 20 announced it has reached
an agreement to acquire the Mississauga, Ont., flour mill of Mondelez
International, Inc. Terms of the transaction, which Ardent Mills said is
expected to close in coming weeks,
were not disclosed.
The Mississauga mill has
daily capacity to produce 8,500
cwts of flour, milled from soft
wheat and hard wheat. The facility has wheat storage totaling
1,900,000 bus. Mississauga is
located just outside of Toronto
and is about a 90-mile drive
from Buffalo, N.Y.
The acquisition by Ardent
Mills would be the company's
first since the business was established in May 2014 as a joint venture encompassing the flour milling assets of Cargill, ConAgra
Foods, Inc. and CHS, Inc.
"Acquiring this mill is consistent
with our strategies for growth and
our desire to help our customers win,"
said Dan Dye, chief executive officer
of Ardent. "They have a strong team in
place at the mill, with a passion for the
craft of milling. We are excited about
this mill's future, and we're confident
we can leverage our innovation and
supply chain capabilities, after the
transaction closes."
In addition to supplying flour to
Mondelez Canada, the mill supplies
flour to baking plants in Canada and
other food manufacturing customers, Ardent Mills said. The company
said the team of 30-plus in place at the

Mississauga mill is expected to join Ardent Mills when the transaction closes.
Speaking with Milling & Baking
News, Bill Stoufer, chief operating officer, Ardent Mills, described the mill
as a "great fit."
"The mill has been modernized over
time - Mondelez has done an excellent

job of taking care of it," he said. "There
is a great team working at the facility,
and we're confident it will be an excellent cultural fit. When we looked at the
Ardent Mills geographic footprint in
Canada, we concluded we were missing
out on the opportunity to expand our
business in Ontario because we did not
have a mill there. It is a great strategic
fit, with such a large percentage of Canada's population in the Toronto area."
Roughly 17% of Canada's population resides in the metropolitan Toronto area.
Ardent Mills also has flour milling
operations in Saskatoon, Sask. (1,700
miles west of Toronto) and Montreal

(340 miles east) as well as a bakery mix
facility in Burlington (just west of Mississauga) and an administrative/sales
office in Brampton, Ont. (also just outside Mississauga).
Ardent Mills is by far the largest flour milling company in the
United States but is the third largest
in Canada, according to the Grain &
Milling Annual published by Sosland
Publishing Co. Following completion
of the transaction, Ardent Mills will
have daily milling capacity in
Canada of 39,000 cwts. Other
major milling companies in
Canada are ADM Milling Co.
with daily capacity of 75,200
cwts, and P&H Milling Group,
with 54,500 cwts of daily milling capacity.
With the acquisition, Ardent
Mills will have a supply agreement with Mondelez Canada,
but the companies declined to
offer further details of the arrangement. While the Mississauga mill is located in a position to supply customers in
the United States as well as Canada,
Ardent Mills' principal focus will be
north of the border, Mr. Stoufer said.
"We looked at this acquisition as a
strategic fit for the Canadian market,"
he said. "If it would work for U.S.
customers, we would look at that opportunity. Our bigger focus is in the
greater Toronto metropolitan area and
the fit within the Canadian footprint
of Ardent Mills."
Mr. Stoufer said the transaction also
offers a glimpse into the strategic expansion objectives of Ardent Mills.
"This shows we are committed to
continuing to make wise capital investments to grow our business," he said. MBN

Former Merita Bread bakery in
Orlando razed by truck dealer

Perfection Bakeries adding storage
and distribution space in Ohio

ORLANDO, FLA. - A Merita Bread bakery in Orlando
that once was owned by the former Hostess Brands, Inc.
was demolished on Aug. 19.
The bakery, which for many years made bread and buns
under the Merita, Nature's Pride and Wonder brands, was
closed in late 2012 as part of Hostess' bankruptcy proceedings. The Merita brand was sold to Flowers Foods, but
the Orlando facility was not one that was reopened by the
Thomasville, Ga.-based baking company.
The Merita Bread bakery originally opened in 1961.
In October 2014, The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of
American Art acquired the landmark Merita Bread neon
sign through a gift from Maudlin International Trucks of
Orlando. Maudlin earlier purchased the property from
Flowers Foods. Maudlin demolished the Merita plant to
make room for its own larger facility. MBN

FORT WAYNE, IND. - Perfection Bakeries, Inc., which
sells bread and other baked foods throughout the United
States under the Aunt Millie's brand, has purchased a
5,100-square-foot plant in Sidney, Ohio, for additional storage and distribution space, according to the Dayton Business
Journal.
Aunt Millie's is family owned and operates six bakeries
in Fort Wayne; Coldwater, Jackson, Kalamazoo and Plymouth, Mich.; and Sidney. The company's bread and other
bakery products are distributed throughout the United
States, but the primary focus is on the Midwest.
John Popp, president of Aunt Millie's, told the Dayton
Business Journal that he expects the new facility to be operational within a few weeks. The company will not need to
hire any additional workers at this time. MBN

10 / September 1, 2015 XMilling & Baking News

bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

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

Milling & Baking News - September 1, 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Milling & Baking News - September 1, 2015