Canadian mills part of merger

Thursday, March 7, 2013

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

ConAgra Foods Inc., Cargill and CHS (a farmer-owned U.S. co-operative) have agreed to combine their North American flour milling businesses to form a new company, Ardent Mills.

If the merger meets regulatory approval and closing conditions and goes ahead by the end of the year as planned, the combined company will operate 44 flour mills, three bakery mix facilities and a specialty bakery in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Ardent will operate as an independent joint venture of its three parent companies with ConAgra Foods and Cargill each holding 44 per cent and CHS holding 12 per cent. Cargill and CHS have been partners in Horizon Milling since that joint venture was formed in 2002. Horizon operates 21 Canadian and U.S. flour mills with a combined milling capacity of 321,000 hundredweight (cwt). The combined daily capacity of the new company will be 576,100 cwt.

The Canadian assets of Horizon include the former Robin Hood dry baking mix plants in Burlington and Saskatoon, Robin Hood flour mills in Montreal and Saskatoon and a product development facility in Burlington. A spokesperson for Cargill has been quoted as saying Horizon’s plans to build a new mill in the Guelph area will not be affected by the merger.

Paul Hetherington, president and CEO of the Baking Association of Canada, says he does not expect the merger will change anything for his members, which include retail, in-store and wholesale/commercial baking companies along with allied trades right across the country.

“Based on what we’ve seen so far, “ Hetherington says, “it (the merger) really doesn’t change the dynamic with regards to the supply of wheat flour in this country.”

A ConAgra news release commenting on the merger said, “Suppliers, including the many farmers and cooperatives that currently provide wheat to the milling operations of ConAgra Mills and Horizon Milling, are expected to benefit from the additional sourcing opportunities provided by Ardent Mills’ asset base, as well as from more opportunities to make value-adding connections to consumers.”

The current president of Horizon, Dan Dye, will be CEO of Ardent Mills once the new company is operating. Chief operating officer and chief integration officer will be Bill Stoufer, the current president of ConAgra Mills. A headquarters location for Ardent Mills has not been chosen. Horizon’s current Canadian headquarters is in Brampton. BF