Grupo Bimbo: Pays Back 600 million USD Loan Ahead Of Time

Mexico City / MX. (div) Grupo Bimbo has paid back a 600 million USD bridge loan ahead of schedule, using money from a share issue last week, the company said this week in a filing with the Mexican stock exchange. The bridge loan was set to come due in January 2010. Bimbo took out the loan to finance the acquisition of Weston Foods Inc.; a U.S. subsidiary of Canada´s George Weston Limited, which it bought for 2,38 billion in January. The acquisition more than doubled the size of Bimbo´s operations in the United States (Bimbo Bakeries USA Inc.).Last week the Mexican Group placed ten billion MXN (526,67 million EUR) in notes on the local debt market to refinance the loans.