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TORONTO - Mexican food giant Grupo Bimbo SA advanced toward its goal of building a top bakery business in the U.S. with the acquisition Jan. 22 of the Oroweat bakery division of George Weston Ltd.
Bimbo, among the world's largest bread makers, paid $610 million for five Oroweat plants in California, Colorado, Oregon and Texas and for a license to make and sell Oroweat brand bread and Entenmann's sweets on the West Coast. Bimbo also gets the right to distribute Thomas' English muffins and Boboli pizza kits in most of the western U.S. The Mexican group said the acquisition was the largest in its history.
Bimbo sells packaged bread, desserts, cookies, snacks, chocolates and packaged tortillas. It has operations in 16 countries, but its...