Orkla Brands Considers Sale of Bakers

Bakers, which has been owned by Orkla since 1991, makes daily deliveries of bread, cakes and other bakery goods to grocery stores, petrol stations, kiosks and other customers.

26 Nov 2010 --- Orkla Brands is considering selling Norway's leading bakery company, Bakers. A sale process is now being initiated, with a view to having a new owner in place by the end of the first half of 2011. Bakers has undergone significant restructuring in the past few years and is now a highly competitive company.

"Bakery goods must be fresh each day, which requires a different type of business and distribution system than for other grocery products. In this respect, Bakers differs from our other branded goods operations," says Torkild Nordberg, CEO of Orkla Brands.

Bakers, which has been owned by Orkla since 1991, makes daily deliveries of bread, cakes and other bakery goods to grocery stores, petrol stations, kiosks and other customers. Its best known products include breads like Bakers Naturlig Sunt, Bakern's Ferske, Birkebeinerbrød and Ingers SuperRug.

Over time, Bakers has developed a broad range of high-quality, fresh products, based on very high food safety standards. A total of 12 local bakeries serve all of southern and central Norway through a well-developed and efficient distribution system. The company's head office is located at Økern in Oslo. Bakers has approximately 880 employees and had operating revenues of around NOK 1.4 billion in 2009.

Bakers is part of Orkla Foods Nordic, which is a business unit of Orkla Brands.