Hormel Foods is set to pay $850 million to buy Columbus Manufacturing, a premium deli meat company, from Chicago-based Arbor Investments. Columbus produces annual sales of approximately $300 million. Other brands in the Hormel portfolio include Spam, Jennie-O, Applegate, DiLusso and the recently acquired Fontanini Italian Meats and Sausages, a Chicago-area foodservice business.
Utz and Inventure Foods announce merger
Inventure Foods, Inc., a specialty food marketer and manufacturer, and Utz Quality Foods, LLC have entered into a merger agreement, whereby Utz will acquire all of Inventure’s outstanding shares of common stock in an all-cash transaction. The transaction is not subject to a financing contingency and is expected to close by the end of the year. The largest privately held and family-managed branded salty snack company in the US, Utz Quality Foods, LLC produces a full line of products, including potato chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, corn chips, tortillas, veggie stix/straws, popcorn, onion rings, pork skins and more.
Motion Industries acquires belting company
Motion Industries, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Company, has purchased Apache, Inc. Headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Apache has been in the industrial hose and belting business for over 50 years. Motion Industries is a leading industrial parts distributor of bearings, mechanical power transmission, electrical and industrial automation, hydraulic and industrial hose, hydraulic and pneumatic components, industrial products, safety products and material handling.
Green packaging manufacturer expanding
Cascades Inc., a leader in the recovery and manufacture of green packaging and tissue products, is investing $21 million in its Cascades Inopak and Plastiques Cascades plants to purchase the equipment necessary to increase its production of food packaging, primarily for the fresh protein market.
