Cleary Gottlieb is representing Grupo Bimbo, the world’s largest baker and distributor of baked goods, in connection with its acquisition of East Balt Bakeries, a global baked goods company that supplies products predominantly to quick service restaurants (QSR), from private equity fund One Equity Partners for a total consideration of approximately $650 million.
The transaction closed on October 16, 2017.
By acquiring 21 bakeries with extensive dough-processing capabilities in 11 countries across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, Mexico-headquartered Grupo Bimbo is entering into eight new countries and continuing to expand its international presence. In addition, because the acquired bakeries service the largest and most well-established QSR brands in the world and are collectively capable of producing about 13 million products per day, this transaction will complement and expand Grupo Bimbo’s current participation in the food service industry, one of Grupo Bimbo’s many business channels. Finally, East Balt’s efficient and low-cost service model, profitable capital deployment strategy and sustained margins will allow Grupo Bimbo to advance its long-term value creation objectives, while preserving its financial flexibility and healthy credit profile.
Cleary previously advised Grupo Bimbo in its $709 million acquisition of Sara Lee Corporation’s North American Fresh Bakery, its €115 million acquisition of Sara Lee’s fresh bakery business in Spain and Portugal, and the acquisition and financing of its $2.5 billion purchase of Weston Foods.
White & Case assisted with international diligence, and Morgan Lewis provided advice on labor and certain employee benefits matters.
For more information, please see the press release issued by Grupo Bimbo here.