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Food processing plants in Oakfield and Bergen sold to French company

By Howard B. Owens

Allens Inc., a food-processing company based in Arkansas, has sold four of its six frozen vegetable processing plants, including its Oakfield and Bergen plants, to Bonduelle Group, a privately held firm based in France.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The sale is expected to close by the end of the month.

The four plants employ 400 people. The number employed in just Bergen and Oakfield were not released.

Allens is reportedly using the funds generated by the sale to invest in new technology and expand its canned-food operations in Arkansas, Wisconsin and North Carolina.

"We're excited to put a renewed focus on the core of our business and the market segments we are most passionate about," said Rick Allen, president and CEO of Allens. "With this renewed concentration, we anticipate greater growth, more innovation and even better customer service and product quality. We're excited about what this will mean to the marketplace and to our customers and partners, overall."

The purchase includes the Chill Ripe brand and the frozen Garden Classics brand, as well as a license to use certain brand names owned by Allens in the frozen business for a limited transitional period.

The two Genesee County plants were acquired by Allens in 2006 from Birds Eye.

Sources: Rochester Business Journal and a press release.

tom hunt

This spells the end of the business. It has been my experience that the French have a way of destroying every business they acquire ie: Valeo in Rochester, my maintenance group at kodak that was lead by a native Frenchman who destroyed it in less than a year. I also have a close friend from Canada who has worked for several automotive supply companies that were acquired by the French and brought down to their knees in short order.

Mar 10, 2012, 10:40am Permalink
DOUGLAS MCCLURG

Hope they hold the positions and maybe even create more jobs..If all else fails,good old NYS is gives over 2 years of umemployment checks to anyone that has had a job for 6 months and then doesn't..?

Mar 10, 2012, 6:59pm Permalink
C. M. Barons

Plus grand échantillon est nécessaire

Do Firms Forget about Their Past Acquisitions? Evidence from French Acquisitions in the United States (1988–2006) Pierre-Xavier Meschi IAE Aix-en-Provence (CERGAM, Aix-Marseille Université) and SKEMA Business School

"...of 731 U.S. firms acquired by French firms between 1988 and 2006. The research shows that acquisition experience that is old or recent has no significant impact on acquisition performance."

Review: Les Fusions-Acquisitions aux USA, by Yves Quintin; published by Les Editions Bruylant in Belgium and France and Les Editions Yvon Blais (a Thomson company) in Québec. Mergers and Acquisitions, October 10, 2005

"The colors of the French and American flags may be identical, and 'football' may be played in both countries," Quintin says, "but the games, and the rules, are different. The financial stakes in the U.S. are much higher and this is driven, to a large extent, by the legal system and, more fundamentally, by different social systems."

http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/french/business/business.htm
Among foreign countries doing business in the US, France employs the third largest number of Americans. Many popular US brands are actually French-owned.
Airbus
Allegra (Aventis Pharmaceuticals)
Amtrak Acela (Alstom)
American Photo Magazine (Hachette Filipacchi Media)
Beefeater (Pernod Ricard)
BancWest (BNP Paribas)
Bell Labs/Lucent Technologies (Alcatel)
BF Goodrich Tires (Michelin)
BIC
Blizzard Entertainment (Vivendi Universal Games)
Boating Magazine (Hachette Filipacchi Media)
Bravo (Vivendi Universal*)
Bushmills (Pernod Ricard)
Car and Driver Magazine (Hachette Filipacchi Media)
Chivas Regal (Pernod Ricard)
CNBC (Vivendi Universal*)
Crystal Springs (Danone)
Cycle World Magazine (Hachette Filipacchi Media)
Dannon (Danone)
Decca Records (Vivendi Universal)
Deutsche Grammophon (Vivendi Universal)
DKNY (LVMH-Moët Hennessy- Louis Vuitton)
ELLE Magazine (Hachette Filipacchi Media)
Evian (Danone)
Focus Features (Vivendi Universal*)
Geffen Records (Vivendi Universal)
Glenlivet (Pernod Ricard)
GRP Records (Vivendi Universal)
Hennessy (LVMH-Moët Hennessy- Louis Vuitton)
Home Magazine (Hachette Filipacchi Media)
Interscope A&M Records (Vivendi Universal)
Island Def Jam Music Group (Vivendi Universal)
Jameson (Pernod Ricard)
Kahlua (Pernod Ricard)
Krups (Groupe SEB)
Lea & Perrins/Worcester (Danone)
Lost Highway Records (Vivendi Universal)
Magellan GPS (Thales/Alcatel)
Martell (Pernod Ricard)
Massive Entertainment (Vivendi Universal Games)
MCA Nashville (Vivendi Universal)
Mercury Nashville (Vivendi Universal)
Mercury Records (Vivendi Universal)
Metropolitan Home Magazine (Hachette Filipacchi Media)
Michelin Tires
Mikasa Crystal
Motel 6 (Accor)
Moulinex (Groupe SEB)
MP3.com (Vivendi Universal)
MSNBC (Vivendi Universal*)
mun2 Channel (Vivendi Universal*)
Naya (Danone)
NBC (Vivendi Universal*)
NBC Universal (Vivendi Universal*)
Nissan Motor (Renault owns 30%)
Pernod Ricard
Philips (Vivendi Universal)
Polydor Records (Vivendi Universal)
Popular Photography & Imaging Magazine (Hachette Filipacchi Media)
Premiere Magazine (Hachette Filipacchi Media)
Radical Entertainment (Vivendi Universal Games)
RCA (Thomson Electronics)
Red Roof Inns (Accor)
Renault
Road & Track Magazine (Hachette Filipacchi Media)
Rogue Pictures (Vivendi Universal*)
SCI-FI Channel (Vivendi Universal*)
Seagram's (Pernod Ricard)
Sheaffer Pen Company (BIC)
Sierra Entertainment (Vivendi Universal Games)
Sofitel (Accor)
Sound & Vision Magazine (Hachette Filipacchi Media)
Stolichnaya (Pernod Ricard**)
Stonyfield Farm (Danone)
Swordfish Studios (Vivendi Universal Games)
TAG Heuer Watches (LVMH-Moët Hennessy- Louis Vuitton)
Technicolor (Thomson Electronics)
Telemundo (Vivendi Universal*)
T-Fal/Tefal Cookware (Groupe SEB)
Thales (Alcatel)
Uniroyal (Michelin)
Universal Motown Records Group (Vivendi Universal)
Universal Pictures (Vivendi Universal*)
Universal Studios (Vivendi Universal*)
USA Network (Vivendi Universal*)
Verve Music Group (Vivendi Universal)
Vivendi Universal
Wild Turkey (Pernod Ricard)
Wite-Out (BIC)
Woman's Day Magazine (Hachette Filipacchi Media)

* An NBC Universal Company in which Vivendi Universal owns a 20% share and General Electric owns an 80% share
** US distribution rights

CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Order Code RL32459

U.S.-French Commercial Tie

U.S. commercial ties with France are extensive, mutually profitable, and growing. With approximately $1 billion in commercial transactions taking place between the two countries every business day of the year, each country has an increasingly large stake in the health and openness of the other’s economy.

France is the 9th largest merchandise trading partner for the United States and the United States is France’s largest trading partner outside the European Union. In 2003, 64% or $29.7 billion of bilateral trade occurred in major industries such as aerospace, pharmaceuticals, medical and scientific equipment, electrical machinery, and plastics where both countries export and import similar products.

The United States and France also have a large and growing trade in services such as tourism, education, finance, insurance and other professional services. In
2002, France was the sixth largest market for U.S. exports of services and the seventh largest provider of services to the United States.

While trade in goods and services receives most of the attention in terms of the commercial relationship, foreign direct investment and the activities of foreign affiliates can be viewed as the backbone of the commercial relationship. The scale of sales of U.S.-owned companies operating in France and French-owned companies operating in the United States outweighs trade transactions by a factor of six to five.

In 2002 France was the sixth largest host country for U.S. foreign direct investment abroad and the United States with investments valued at $43.9 billion was the number one foreign investor in France. During that same year, French companies had direct investments in the United States totaling $171 billion (historical cost basis), making France the second largest investor in the United States. French-owned companies employed some 578,600 workers in the United States in 2001..."

French ambassador: Charlotte's 'on the map' for business
By Jim Morrill
jmorrill@charlotteobserver.com

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/03/02/3061095/french-ambassador-t…
French-American relations are at a high point, and North Carolina is poised to reap the benefits, France's ambassador to the United States said Thursday in Charlotte.

Ambassador Francois Delattre told a World Affairs Council audience that like North Carolina, Charlotte has become a destination for French companies.

He touted figures: $3 billion a year in trade, $1.3 billion in French investment in the state, 30,000 North Carolinians employed in French-owned companies.

From the Bonduelle website-

News09/03/2012 Bonduelle announces the acquisition of Allens frozen vegetables sites in the United States

The transaction, which consists in the purchase of the Group’s assets, could be concluded at the end of March, following authorisation by the US Competition Authorities, and concerns four of the five Allens frozen vegetable industrial sites - Bergen, Oakfield, Brockport (State of New York) and Fairwater (Wisconsin) - assuring the jobs of 400 permanent employees. It includes the Chill Ripe and Garden Classic brands as well as the right to use the Allens and Veg-All brand names for a period of 18 months.

Allens is a family business created in 1926 in Arkansas (its head office is in Siloam Springs), which originally specialised in canned vegetables. In 2006 Allens entered the frozen vegetable segment by acquiring the Birds Eye industrial sites dedicated to the distributor’s own brand products. In 2011 the Allens Group’s sales of frozen vegetables represented a volume of around 150,000T in the USA, with 40% going to the General Public, 25% to Foodservice and 35% to industrial sales.

Until now, Bonduelle North America (head office in Montreal), the leader in canned and frozen vegetables in Canada under distributors’ own brands and under its own labels (Bonduelle, Arctic Gardens, etc.) with over de 335,000T of vegetables grown in Quebec and Ontario, exported 30% of its production to the United States, mainly as frozen produce via the Foodservice networks. This acquisition will not only allow it to reinforce the growth of its sales but will also be advantageous in terms of exchange rate risks (better balance of productions and sales in US dollars) and the balancing of climate-related risks.

The Bonduelle Group, whose head office is situated in Villeneuve d’Ascq in northern France, is the world leader in prepared vegetables (canned, frozen, dehydrated, bagged salads in sachets and delicatessen products). It operates 42 production sites in Western Europe, Poland, Hungary, Russia, Canada and Brazil, generates a turnover of €1,726 million and employs 7,250 permanent employees.

With this acquisition, the Bonduelle Group becomes one of the main players in prepared vegetables in North America and pursues its growth outside of the European Union.

Press contacts
Catherine Richard – RP carrées Tel: 0033 (0)3 28 52 00 51 / P : 0033 (0)6 09 25 14 61
Email: catherine.richard@rp-carrees.com
Anne-Sophie Joly – RP carrées Tél. 0033 (0)3 28 52 00 56. Email : asophie.joly@rp-carrees.com

Mar 11, 2012, 9:37pm Permalink
Kyle Couchman

I agree Tammy I love it when misconceptions (even ones I hold) are shattered with facts, its a kind of mental rush to have beliefs shattered and new knowledge forced in. Gives me sense of accomplishment to learn and retain things like this. Sometimes the limited view that opens up leads to new discoveries in other subjects....

Mar 11, 2012, 5:38pm Permalink
Bea McManis

Sanofi, a pharmaceutical house, has a big presence in the US and long list of US products.
Prescriptions Products
Ambien®
Ambien CR™
Anzemet® Injection/Tablets
AMARYL® (glimepiride tablets)
ARALEN® (chloroquine phosphate, USP)
CANTIL® (mepenzolate bromide USP)
CELSIOR® Flushing and cold storage solution
CLAFORAN® (cefotaxime sodium) Sterile and Injection
CLOMID® (clomiphene citrate tablets USP)
DDAVP® Tablets (desmopressin acetate)
DDAVP® Nasal Spray (desmopressin acetate)
DDAVP® Rhinal Tube (desmopressin acetate)
DDAVP® Injection (desmopressin acetate)
DEMEROL® (meperidine hydrochloride, USP)
DIAßETA® (Glyburide USP tablets)
DRISDOL® (ergocalciferol, USP) 50,000 IU Capsule
DRISDOL® (ergocalciferol oral solution, USP) 8000 IU/mL
HIPREX® (methenamine hippurate, USP)
KAYEXALATE (sodium polystyrene sulfonate)
LASIX® (furosemide tablets)
MYTELASE® (ambenonium chloride)
NILANDRON® (nilutamide tablets)
NORPRAMIN® (desipramine hydrochloride tablets USP)
pHisoHex® (hexachlorophene detergent cleanser)
PLAQUENIL® (hydroxychloroquine sulfate, USP)
PRIFTIN® (rifapentine) Tablets
PRIMAQUINE (Phosphate Tablets, USP)
RIFADIN® (rifampin capsules, USP)
RIFADIN® IV (rifampin for injection, USP)
RIFAMATE® (rifampin and isoniazid capsules, USP)
RIFATER® (rifampin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide) Tablets
SKELID® (tiludronate disodium)
THYMOGLOBIN® [Anti-thymocyte Globulin (Rabbit)]
TRENTAL® (pentoxifylline tablets)

Apidra® (insulin glulisine [rDNA origin] injection)
Aplenzin™ (bupropion hydrobromide extended-release tablets)
Arava® Tablets (leflunomide)Avalide® (irbesartan-hydrochlorothiazide)
Avapro® (irbesartan)
CARTICEL® (autologous cultured chondrocytes)
Clolar®(clofarabine injection)
Eligard® 7.5 mg, 22.5 mg, 30 mg, 45 mg(leuprolide acetate for injectable suspension)
Elitek™(rasburicase)
Eloxatin®(oxaliplatin injection)
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Fludara®(fludarabine phosphate)
Hectorol®(doxercalciferol)

Capsules and Injection
iBGStar™
Jevtana®(cabazitaxel) Injection
Ketek®(telithromycin tablets)
Lantus®(insulin glargine [rDNA origin] injection)
Leukine®(insulin glargine [rDNA origin] injection)
Lovenox®(enoxaparin sodium injection)
Mozobil®(plerixafor injection)
Multaq®(dronedarone)
Nasacort® AQ Nasal Spray(triamcinolone acetonide)
Plavix®(clopidogrel bisulfate)
Renagel® Tablets(sevelamer hydrochloride) 800mg Tablets
Renvela®(sevelamer carbonate)
Rilutek®(riluzole tablets)
SEPRAFILM®Adhesion Barrier
SynviscOne®(hylan G-F 20)
Taxotere®(docetaxel) Injection Concentrate
Uroxatral®(alfuzosin HCl extended-release tablets)XYZAL®
(levocetirizine dihydrochloride)

Vaccines
ActHIB®Haemophilus b Conjugate Vaccine (Tetanus Toxoid Conjugate)
Adacel®Tetanus Toxoid, Reduced Diphtheria Toxoid and Acellular Pertussis Vaccine Adsorbed
DAPTACEL® Diphtheria and Tetanus Toxoids and Acellular Pertussis Vaccine Adsorbed
DECAVAC®Tetanus and Diphtheria Toxoids Adsorbed
Fluzone®Influenza Virus Vaccine
Fluzone® High-DoseInfluenza Virus Vaccine
Fluzone® IntradermalInfluenza Virus Vaccine
Imovax® RabiesRabies Vaccine
Imogam® Rabies - HTRabies Immune Globulin (Human) USP, Heat Treated
IPOL®Poliovirus Vaccine Inactivated
Menactra®Meningococcal (Groups A, C, Y and W-135) Polysaccharide Diphtheria Toxoid Conjugate Vaccine
Menomune® - A/C/Y/W-135Meningococcal Polysaccharide Vaccine, Groups A, C, Y and W-135 Combined
Pentacel®Diphtheria and Tetanus Toxoids and Acellular Pertussis Adsorbed, Inactivated Poliovirus and Haemophilus b Conjugate (Tetanus Toxoid Conjugate) Vaccine
TheraCys®BCG Live (Intravesical)
TUBERSOL®(Tuberculin Purified Protein Derivative, Mantoux)
Typhim Vi®Typhoid Vi Polysaccharide Vaccine
YF-VAX®Yellow Fever Vaccine

Locations
Sanofi
Head Offices
Bridgewater, NJ 08807-5925
Washington, DC 20004
Swiftwater PA 18370-0187

Regional Sales Offices
Scottsdale, AZ
Dallas, TX
St. Louis, MO
Atlanta, GA
Bridgewater, NJ
Puerto Rico

R&D
Bethesda, MD
Bridgewater, NJ
Cambridge, MA
Great Valley, PA
Tuscon, AZ

Manufacturing
Kansas City, MO
St. Louis, MO

Distribution
Decatur, GA
Sparks, NV

Mar 12, 2012, 5:47am Permalink
Don Lovelace

I see a French flag flying at O-Atka plant.
They are expanding and have a large ad in the pennysaver hiring people for all shifts. That to me indicates their business is growing not being destroyed.

Mar 12, 2012, 8:19am Permalink

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