FDBusiness.com

Aryzta, the Switzerland-based speciality bakery group with operations in Europe, North America, South East Asia and Australia, has received all necessary regulatory clearances to complete its $900m acquisition of Fresh Start Bakeries (incorporating Pennant Food and Sweet Life).

Operating 29 specialist production facilities across the US, Canada, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Spain, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand along with joint ventures located in North America, Chile and Guatemala, .Fresh Start Bakeries is a global supplier of speciality bakery products with a leading position in the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) segment. Pennant Foods is a leading provider of speciality bakery products and solutions to the North American QSR, food service and retail in-store-bakery channels. Sweet Life is a leading innovator and manufacturer of sweet baked goods servicing the North American and Asian QSR channel.

Aryzta is also acquiring Great Kitchens, a leading supplier of pizza and appetisers with a focus on the deli segment of the North American retail grocery channel, for $180m. The combined revenue of the Fresh Start Bakeries and Great Kitchens businesses being acquired is $1.03b, with associated EBITDA of $133m.

Owen Killian, chief executive of Aryzta.

The acquisitions double Aryzta’s manufactured volumes with an additional 30 production locations in 9 countries and permit greater access to a broader customer base within the expanding QSR and retail segments. Moreover, they also provide Aryzta with a more balanced exposure to its core markets of North America and Europe, while extending its geographical footprint in rapidly expanding developing markets.

“On 9th June 2008 Aryzta set out objectives to ‘double the earnings base within 5 years’. These acquisitions represent an important milestone for our shareholders on that journey,” says Owen Killian, chief executive of Aryzta.

Created in 2008 by the merger of Dublin-based IAWS Group and Hiestand Holding of Switzerland, Aryzta has a primary listing on the SIX Swiss Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on the Irish Stock Exchange.In Europe Aryzta has a mixture of business to business and consumer brands, including Hiestand, Cuisine de France, Delice de France and Coup de Pates.