Through the latest brand acquisition, Bimbo intends to enhance its portfolio and extend its distribution reach
Grupo Bimbo, the leading Mexican multinational bakery company, has made it to the headlines for acquiring the Chilean cakes & cookies manufacturer, Alimentos Nutra Bien. Reportedly, Bimbo, the largest baker in the world, has come up with the latest move in order to help complement the company’s current portfolio and magnify its distribution reach. Financial terms of the deal have not been revealed yet.
Sources with the knowledge of the development cite that the announcement comes along the heels of Bimbo’s robust full-year results that depicted net sales to be higher by 7.8 percent to $15.06 billion and the rise in operating income by 5.9 percent to about $967 million. Apparently, Bimbo highlighted its strong performance in both the North America and Mexico units.
For the record, founded in 1984 as a small retail operation in Boston, Nutra Bien produces bakery products in Talagante, Chile. The company moved back to Chile in 1992 for reestablishing itself as a wholesale bakery.
Daniel Servitje, the CEO at Grupo Bimbo, was reported saying that the company concluded the year with net sales, operating income, gross profit and adjusted EBITDA at record-breaking levels, that helped position it as a stronger firm that is likely to create value and best-serve the customers.
According to a report, Bimbo’s latest acquisition has substantial potential to deepen the company’s penetration into the traditional baked food sector. However, the acquisition had to face certain obstacles as the NEPO (National Economic Prosecutor’s Office) had blocked the transaction initially, concluding that it could lower competition in Chile’s food market. Subsequently, NEPO’s methodology was said to be flawed and the decision was overruled by Tribunal for the Defense of Free Competition in Chile. The court, as a part of its verdict, set maximum sales prices on the baked foods of Nutra Bien for about three years as well as mandated the maintenance of product quality.
