Bunge North America acquires C.F. Sauer margarine business
The deal includes the purchase of the margarine production and packaging assets at the C.F. Sauer Company (CFS) facility in New Century, Kansas and the margarine plant of its subsidiary, Dean Foods Company, in Sandston, Virginia, which together have an annual capacity of 400m pounds of margarine. The company said it had not released the financial details of the transaction.
Vice president and general manager of Bunge Oils Rodney Perry said in a statement: “Adding C.F. Sauer's margarine assets to Bunge's business opens up several exciting innovation opportunities for our lower saturated and reduced trans fat products. With the addition of the Sandston facility and its dedicated team, this new shipping location will help us better serve existing customers and reach out to new customers in an important market. We also look forward to working closely with CFS in the transition at New Century."
Bunge North America said it intends to keep most of the approximately 160 staff currently employed at the Sandston plant, the running of which it will take over immediately. Meanwhile, the company said it would relocate margarine production and packaging from the New Century plant to other Bunge facilities.
President and CEO of Bunge North America Soren Schroder said: "With this additional capacity, we are strengthening our integrated food and ingredient value chain to provide additional products, improved risk management and better logistics to customers."
Products produced at the two facilities include a wide range of different sized margarine packages, from one-ton totes of margarine for food manufacturers to five-gram individual portions.
The C.F. Sauer Company said that the sale of its margarine business would allow it to concentrate on its core brands, including Duke’s Mayonnaise and other branded dressings, Sauer’s and The Spice Hunter spices, seasoning mixes and extracts.
