Milling & Baking News - March 12, 2019 - 10

Business

Pipeline Foods acquires SunOpta
organic soy and corn business
TORONTO - Pipeline Foods, L.L.C.
has acquired the specialty and organic soy and corn business of SunOpta
Inc. for $66.5 million. The transaction
closed on Feb. 22.
"We are excited by this incredible
opportunity to grow our business
and expand the accessibility of organic and specialty grains in the U.S.,"
said Eric Jackson, chief executive of
Pipeline Foods. "With this move, we
are merging the newest team in the
sustainable agriculture supply chain
business with the most tenured and
respected team in the business and

creating something even better."
The acquired business includes a facility in Cresco, Iowa, and four facilities located in the Minnesota cities of
Hope, Blooming Prairie, Ellendale and
Moorhead.
As part of the transaction, Pipeline
and SunOpta have entered a multiyear supply agreement for certain
ingredients used in SunOpta's consumer products business. SunOpta
said it will continue to operate its
other North American-based sourcing
and supply operations, consisting of
sunflower and roasting operations,

Global buys Bubbles Baking,
expanding in sweet goods
LOS ANGELES - Global Bakeries,
L.L.C., one of the largest specialty bakeries privately owned in the western
United States, has acquired Bubbles Baking Co. Financial terms of the transaction
were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Van Nuys, Calif.,
Bubbles offers more than 300 stock-keeping units of frozen cakes and delicacies.
The company's products include Danish,
muffins, cupcakes, cheesecakes, cakes,
tortes, mousses, loaves, rolls, buns, pancakes, pastries and other baked foods.
With the acquisition, Bubbles is a
fully owned subsidiary of Global Bakeries. Christopher Botticella, chief executive officer of Global Bakeries, now
will lead Bubbles as well.

"For over 55 years Bubbles has set the
standard in homemade pastries, and we at
Global Bakeries not only want to continue
that tradition but enhance and
build on their standard of excellence with our increased
efficiencies and new product
lines," Mr. Botticella said. "We
are excited to add Bubbles into
our family and look to the future with further great excitement."
The transaction was led by Dallasbased Surge Private Equity and The
Firmament Group, which invested in
Global Bakeries last December.
"The acquisition of Bubbles allows Global Bakeries to expand into the dessert baking arena," said Tom Beauchamp, partner

ADM and Cargill launch digital
grain marketing joint venture
CHICAGO - Archer Daniels Midland Co.
and Cargill on March 4 finalized the formation of GrainBridge, L.L.C. Financial terms
of the transaction were not disclosed.
According to the companies, the joint
venture will develop digital tools to help North
American farmers consolidate information on
production economics and
grain marketing activities into a single
digital platform.
"We're thrilled to launch GrainBridge,
and begin the roll-out of our technological solutions for farmers this summer,"
said Mark Frank, chief executive officer
of GrainBridge. "Since we announced this
10 / March 12, 2019

Milling & Baking News

venture last fall, we've been talking to farmers across the country, and it's clear that the
people who grow our food are themselves
hungry for technological solutions to help
increase their efficiency and profitability."
ADM and Cargill first
announced plans to form
a technology-focused joint
venture in October 2018.
With the transaction complete, the joint venture now will begin
developing a suite of digital solutions,
including tools that provide grain marketing decision support, e-commerce and account management software.
Headquartered in Omaha, Neb., GrainBridge said it plans to reach out to others. MBN

as well as its European-based international sourcing and supply platform,
known as Tradin Organic, which were
not part of the sale.
"Our specialty and organic soy
and corn business has a long history of supplying high-quality specialty, non-G.M.O. and organic ingredients to the food industry," said
John Ruelle, senior vice-president of
raw material sourcing and supply at
SunOpta. "I want to thank all of our
employees who are transitioning to
Pipeline Foods for their hard work
and dedication. We believe Pipeline
Foods is well positioned in this space,
which should serve the industry well
and be positive for our transitioning
employees." MBN

at Surge Private Equity. "From better ingredient pricing to offering customers more
product lines, we see a lot of opportunity
in the fragmented niche boutique baking
space to add value by consolidation of
these strong brands and products. We aim
to do several add on acquisitions this year."
Based in Pacoima, Calif.,
Global Bakeries creates nonG.M.O. and organic bread
products such as pita bread,
pita chips, bagels, flatbread
and croissants for grocery
stores, bakeries, restaurants and private
label customers. The company was established in 1977 by Albert Boyajian. MBN

Viterra acquires General
Mills' stake in North
Dakota grain facility
REGINA, SASK. - Viterra USA has signed
a purchase agreement to acquire General
Mills' 50% ownership stake in a grain facility located at Northgate, N.D. Previously, Viterra held a 50% stake through a joint
venture agreement with General Mills.
The transaction has received all necessary
approvals and closed on Feb. 28.
"We're pleased to take on full ownership of this facility and to continue building our presence in the U.S.," said Kyle
Jeworski, Viterra's president and chief
executive officer for North America.
Viterra's presence in North Dakota includes special crops facilities in Ray and
Minot, and a grain elevator at Grand Forks.
According to Sosland Publishing Company's 2019 Grain & Milling Annual, Viterra
has 84 grain storage facilities and a total licensed grain storage capacity of 118.1 million tonnes. Its storage capacity ranks 12th
among North American grain companies. MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

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Milling & Baking News - March 12, 2019

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