Premium Brands buying Island City Baking, Conte Foods in $20.3-million deal

VANCOUVER – Premium Brands Holdings Corp. (TSX:PBH) is buying a Vancouver-area company that makes artisanal bread and an affiliate that makes pasta for $20.3 million in cash, common shares and other equity.

The deal includes Island City Baking, which has a production operation in Richmond, B.C., that makes fresh and frozen bread, and Conte Foods, which makes fresh pasta in Burnaby, B.C., and distributes specialty foods imported from Europe.

Together, Island City and Conte Foods have about $20 million a year of annual sales.

Premium says it will pay $13.3 million in cash for the two companies plus common shares worth $3 million and a minority equity stake in its bakery group.

In a separate deal, Premium also announced an agreement to buy Larosa Fine Foods, a Vancouver-based manufacturer of specialty Italian products, for $700,000 in cash.

Upon closing, its operations will be moved into the Conte Foods facility.