Ventura Foods to acquire Marie's(R) dressings and Dean's(R) dips businesses

27/07/05 Ventura Foods, LLC, has announced that it has entered into an agreement to purchase the Marie's(R) dressings and Dean's(R) dips businesses from Deans Foods Company. The transaction includes a long-term license agreement whereby Ventura Foods will have the right to use the Dean's trademark on dips.

The parties expect that the sale will be concluded after the completion of the standard antitrust premerger notification procedures.
 
Ventura Foods, LLC, a privately held company headquartered in Brea, California, is a leading manufacturer and marketer of edible oil products, including shortenings and cooking oils, mayonnaise, dressings, sauces, margarine and flavor bases, to the foodservice, retail, industrial and private label market sectors. Dean Foods Company is one of the leading food and beverage companies in the United States. Its Dairy Group division is the largest processor and distributor of milk and other dairy products in the country, with products sold under more than 50 familiar local and regional brands and a wide array of private labels. The company's WhiteWave Foods subsidiary is the nation's leading organic foods company. WhiteWave Foods markets and sells a variety of well-known dairy and dairy-related products, such as Silk(R) soymilk, Horizon Organic(R) dairy products and juices, International Delight(R) coffee creamers and LAND O'LAKES(R) creamers and cultured products. Dean Foods Company also owns the fourth largest dairy processor in Spain and the leading brand of organic dairy products in the United Kingdom.

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