US Foodsevice sells SOFCO to Bunzl
The sale of the SOFCO division falls in line with US Foodsevrice's ongoing efforts to focus energies on core foodservice distribution business.
03/08/05 US Foodservice (USF) has announced that agreement has been reached with Bunzl Distribution Midcentral, Inc. for the sale of USF’s New York based SOFCO division. SOFCO is a specialty distributor of janitorial/sanitary, industrial packaging, and paper products, as well as non-food foodservice supplies, in the Northeastern United States. The buyer is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bunzl plc, the international distribution and outsourcing group.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals including competition authority clearance. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.
SOFCO had sales in 2004 of approximately $175 million. “The sale of the SOFCO division falls in line with our ongoing efforts to focus our energies on our core foodservice distribution business,” said U.S. Foodservice CEO Lawrence Benjamin. “We believe that SOFCO’s potential as a specialty distributor can better be realized under an owner such as Bunzl. We are confident that this buyer is committed to pursue the further improvement and development of SOFCO and its associates.”
