Kraft Foods Inc. announced the appointments of the chairmen and chief executive officers of the future global snacks and North American grocery companies. As previously announced, the company expects to complete the spin-off by the end of 2012. When the new companies launch, John T. Cahill, currently an industrial partner of the private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings LLC, will become non-executive chairman of the North American grocery company. W. Anthony Vernon, currently executive vice president and president, Kraft Foods North America, will become chief executive officer of the North American grocery company. Irene B. Rosenfeld, currently chairman and CEO of Kraft Foods, will be chairman and CEO of the global snacks company.
ConAgra Foods, Inc. agreed to acquire National Pretzel Company, based in Lancaster, PA, from Brookstone Holdings. In other ConAgra news, Andrew Ross joined the company as its executive vice president and chief strategy officer.<br><br>
Key Technology promoted Steve Johnson to the position of director of marketing. Bret Larreau was promoted to the new position of manager of business development.
Datalogic S.p.A. entered into an agreement with subsidiaries of Danaher Corporation to acquire Accu-Sort Systems Inc., a supplier of automatic identification products in the US. Datalogic also announced the acquisition, through a US subsidiary, of PPT Vision Inc., a US company involved in the machine vision market for nearly 30 years.
The Hain Celestial Group acquired Daniels Group, a UK-based manufacturer of chilled foods.
Sara Lee Corp. completed the sale of its fresh bakery business in Spain and Portugal to Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo S.A.B. de C.V. for €115 million (approximately $155 million) in cash.
Fuchs North America announced three corporate appointments at its headquarters located in Owings Mills, MD. Kenneth R. Wuestenfeld joined the company as vice president of sales and business development. Felix Venezuela joined as director of operations. The company also appointed Edward G. Harazak as senior food scientist.
Eriez company founder, Orange Fowler (O.F.) Merwin, was inducted into the Erie, PA Hall of Fame.
Cargill completed the sale of its global Flavour Systems business to Kerry Group, an ingredients and flavor company based in Ireland.
Hearthside Food Solutions, a Wind Point Partners portfolio company, announced the acquisition of the Roskam Granola business unit, including manufacturing operations in Grand Rapids, MI.
Groupe Biscuits Leclerc Inc. acquired the Ancient Grain Bar intellectual property assets from Go Pure Foods together with the equipment required to manufacture the bars. Go Pure Foods is located in Fresno, CA.
Yarnell’s Ice Cream, an Arkansas company that closed in July, will resume production under the new ownership of Schulze and Burch Biscuit, which purchased its assets at auction.
White Coffee Corporation acquired Bencheley Teas from First Colony Coffee & Tea Company located in Norfolk, VA. <br><br>
WILD Flavors, Inc. announced that Marie Wright accepted the role of chief global flavorist.
Cheese maker Saputo Inc. has named Dino Della Sbarba president and COO as of April 1, 2012.
Sara Lee Corp. is expected to move its headquarters to downtown Chicago from Downers Grove, IL in 2013 after it completes its split into two units in 2012—one unit focused on international beverages and the other on meats.
