Grupo Bimbo: Shareholders approved plan to buy Canadian baker

Mexico / MX. (wib) In November the Canadian George Weston Limited announced that its subsidiary Dunedin Holdings had agreed to sell its fresh bread and baked goods business in the United States to Grupo Bimbo. Some days ago the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said, that the Mexican group has received the U.S. antitrust approval. Now the shareholders of Grupo Bimbo in Mexico City approved the company´s plan to buy the U.S. bakeries of the Canadian group. Bimbo said in a filing with the Mexican stock exchange, that shareholders also approved the company taking on debt for the buyout, which includes 2,38 billion USD for Weston Foods Inc. plus 125 million USD for related financial assets. Weston Foods adds 22 bakeries and 4’000 distribution routes to the operations of Bimbo USA, bringing the total to 35 bakeries and 7’000 routes. The operations, with annual sales of 2,2 billion USD and operating cash flow of around 250 million USD, are concentrated on the U.S. East Coast, while Bimbo´s current U.S. operations are largely spread across the Western states.