Canada Bread, a manufacturer and distributor of fresh bakery products, is set to divest its fresh pasta and sauce business Olivieri Foods to Spanish firm Ebro Foods for $120m.
Olivieri Foods manufactures flat and filled fresh pasta products and sauces at its facilities in Hamilton, Ontario and Delta, British Columbia and employs 375 people. It had total sales of $105.5m in 2012.
Canada Bread president and CEO Richard Lan said this sale represents an excellent opportunity to optimize the value of the company's fresh pasta business, while realizing its potential under a company dedicated to expanding in the global pasta industry.
"With the leading Canadian brand in fresh pasta, a strong consumer and customer base and highly skilled employees, this acquisition provides Ebro Foods with an excellent growth platform," Lan added.
Ebro Foods chairman Antonio Hernández Callejas said that the purchase will enable the company to enter the fresh pasta and sauces segment in Canada through the leading brand, thus consolidating its leadership in all the categories in which it operate in the country.
"The incorporation of Olivieri into Ebro Foods will also produce numerous additional synergies with our European fresh pasta business headed by Lustucru, in commercial, industrial, marketing and advertising aspects," Callejas added.
The transaction is subject to Competition Bureau review and is expected to close by the end of 2013.
