TORONTO - George Weston Ltd. (TSX: WN) has paid $110 million to purchase Ace Bakery, a manufacturer and supplier of artisan and European-style breads.
Weston, which controls the Loblaws grocery chain (TSX:L) and owns Weston Foods, said Monday that the Ace Bakery products will complement its own brands.
"I would like to welcome the ACE Bakery employees into the Weston group," said W. Galen Weston, chairman and president of George Weston.
It's the second major bakery acquisition for Weston in recent months, following its purchase of Keystone Bakery for US$185 million
Keystone has three operating businesses -- Freed's Bakery of Manchester, N.H., a baker of frozen, fully finished iced cupcakes, Granny's Kitchens of Frankfort, N.Y., a supplier of pre-fried and thaw-and-sell doughnuts, and Heartland Baking of DuQuoin, Ill., a specialty supplier of thaw-and-serve cookies.
Ace was founded in 1993 by Martin Connell and Linda Haynes, who originally made their bread by hand. Over the years, it has expanded and became a wholesale supplier to restaurants, hotels, caterers and gourmet food shoes.
It eventually developed a partially baked baguette that was frozen and sold to retailers and consumers who could quickly make hot bread in their own ovens.
Weston (TSX:WN) was down $1.64 or two per cent at $80.31 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
