The transaction is expected to close no later than Dec. 15, 2008. Lance will use available liquidity under its current credit facilities to fund the acquisition.
David V. Singer, president and CEO of Lance, said, "Archway [image-nocss] was founded in the 1930s, and has built solid market share in its niche of soft, home-style cookies. Archway is an excellent addition to our growing portfolio of consumer preferred niche brands. We are looking forward to reopening the Ashland, Ohio, production facility, where we intend to produce Archway cookies. This facility will also provide the capacity to support growth in our existing business and capabilities that will broaden the products we can offer our Private Brands customers, thus supporting our growth goals for our non-branded business."
Lance, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., manufactures and markets snack foods throughout much of the United States and other parts of North America. The company's products include sandwich crackers and cookies, potato chips, crackers, cookies, other snacks, sugar wafers, nuts, restaurant style crackers and candy. Lance has manufacturing facilities in North Carolina, Iowa, Georgia, Massachusetts, Texas, Florida, Arkansas and Ontario, Canada. It sells products under the Lance, Cape Cod and Tom's brand names along with a number of private-label and third-party brands. The company's products are distributed through a direct-store-delivery system of approximately 1,400 sales routes, a network of independent distributors and direct shipments to customer locations. Products are distributed widely through grocery and mass merchant stores, convenience stores, foodservice outlets and other channels.
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