MEXICO’S GRUPO BIMBO ACQUIRES EAST BALT BAKERY
Grupo Bimbo S.A.B. de C.V. has acquired East Balt Bakery. Owned by One Equity Partners, East Balt company made the agreement to be sold for a price of $650 million U.S. dollars.
“East Balt brings significant expertise, a remarkable track record of profitable growth, and a geographically diverse and highly scalable platform in the foodservice segment, complementing our current business within this channel. This acquisition continues to fulfill our vision of expanding our global reach to better serve more consumers, with entry to eight new countries. Notably, East Balt enjoys long-standing strategic relationships, with the largest and most established QSR brands in the world. We look forward to welcoming all of East Balt’s associates to the Grupo Bimbo family and to our continued growth together,” said Daniel Servitje, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Grupo Bimbo.
East Balt Bakery produces and supplies buns, English muffins, rolls, tortillas, bagels, artisanal breads and other baked goods. They operate 21 bakeries in 11 countries across the United States, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Based in Chicago, IL and founded in 1955, the East Balt company produces sales of approximately $420 million, as well as employing 2,200.
“With an efficient and low-cost service model, a profitable capital deployment strategy, and sustained margins, this accretive acquisition in terms of margins, earnings per share and profitability, supports our value creation objectives. To fund the transaction, Grupo Bimbo will utilize an existing committed long-term revolving credit facility, which preserves the Company’s financial flexibility and healthy credit profile. After giving effect to the transaction, we expect a pro-forma total debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 2.8 times,” said Guillermo Quiroz, Chief Financial Officer of Grupo Bimbo.
GRUPO BIMBO TO EXPAND INTERNATIONALLY
Grupo Bimbo, based in Mexico, is a company that manufactures more than 13,000 products. Bimbo has over 100 brands, including the well-known sections of Sarah Lee and Heiners. With this new merging of East Balt Bakery, Bimbo is expanding into international waters by entering eight new countries.
