Shareholders approve $1.83B sale of Canada Bread to Grupo Bimbo
by The Canadian Press
Bread maker said 99.98 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of deal with Mexico-based firm
TORONTO—Canada Bread Co. Ltd. says its shareholders have approved a takeover of the company by Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo.
The bread maker said shareholders holding approximately 99.98 per cent of the company’s common shares voted in favour of the $1.83-billion deal at a special meeting April 3.
The proposed acquisition, which was struck in February, has already received the green light from the United States Justice Department and the Canadian Competition Bureau.
The deal is now expected to close in the second quarter of 2014, subject to other conditions.
Grupo Bimbo, one of the world’s largest bread companies, also has the support of Maple Leaf Foods Inc., which owns a 90 per cent stake in Canada Bread.
Maple Leaf Foods is in the midst selling a number of assets as part of a restructuring plan to improve the profits of its overall business, which is primarily focused on meat products.
The bakery deal followed the sale of its Rothsay rendering business, which handles edible and inedible animal by-products, to Texas-based Darling International Inc.
