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| Todd Bastean, president Bunge North America |
“This acquisition is an important strategic step to strengthen our Food & Ingredients business in the U.S., and could provide additional growth opportunities for the company’s other regions,” said Todd Bastean, president Bunge North America. “These assets, together with our existing plant in Worthington, Indiana, make Bunge a leading U.S. producer of corn masa, a product that is experiencing significant growth not only here, but around the globe.”
Corn masa is the primary ingredient used to make tortillas and tortilla chips. Bunge said it is a key growth category in packaged food and food service channels, with sales projected to continue increasing.
The acquisition will create scale in Bunge’s masa milling capacity, according to the company. In addition to traditional bulk, tote and 50-pound bags used by food manufacturers and food service customers, both the Iowa and Texas locations can produce one kilo/2.2-pound packages sold by retailers under their own store brands.
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| Daniel Maldonado, managing director, Bunge Milling |
“With additional locations throughout the U.S., we will be better able to provide customers with a high-quality, reliable supply of products nationwide,” said Daniel Maldonado, managing director, Bunge Milling. “We look forward to partnering with customers to help build their brands and using our strong innovation capabilities to further support them in meeting evolving consumer needs with an on-trend portfolio.”
On Nov. 17, Bunge announced that the company has reached an agreement with Grupo Minsa S.A.B. de C.V. terminating a deal the two companies announced in August 2016 under which Bunge would have acquired a controlling interest in Minsa. Regulatory hurdles were behind the decision not to move forward, according to Bunge.
