SunOpta acquires Cleugh's Frozen Foods

21/06/05 SunOpta Inc. has announced that it has completed the acquisition of the outstanding shares of Cleugh's Frozen Foods, Inc., of Buena Park, California. The undisclosed purchase price includes cash and assumption of debt.

Cleugh's is a third generation family business with annual revenues of in excess of US$50 million. The business focuses on processing natural and organic frozen fruits and vegetables for the retail private label, food service and industrial markets. Cleugh's operates two processing facilities in Buena Park and Salinas, California, with combined production, packaging and warehousing space of approximately 60,000 square feet. The facilities are located in two of California's largest strawberry growing regions, which represents Cleugh's primary product. The operations have extensive capabilities including IQF (individually quick frozen) processing, blending and puree production, and offer a wide range of packaging formats to their customers, including poly bags, gable top cartons, specialty retail packaging, tubs, pails and other food service packaging formats. Organic product offerings represent the fastest growing segment of this business.

The acquisition of Cleugh's further strengthens SunOpta's vertically integrated fruit based operations. SunOpta's strategic sourcing arrangements from around the world enable the Company to be a leader in the supply of fruits and vegetable based products to the organic foods industry.

Cleugh's processing and packaging capabilities will enable the Company to service current customers from SunOpta-owned production facilities, thereby improving SunOpta's ability to manage the supply chain 'from field to table' and extending its vertically integrated model in fruit ingredients.