SunOpta Acquires Lortons Fresh Squeezed Juices

TORONTO, CanadaSunOpta Inc. announced that its subsidiary SunOpta Global Organic Ingredients acquired Lorton's Fresh Squeezed Juices, Inc., located in San Bernadino, Calif..

Lorton's produces a variety of citrus-based products in both industrial and packaged formats, with revenues of approximately $10 million. The acquisition expands SunOpta's vertically integrated operations into the extracting, processing and packaging of citrus-based ingredients through consumer packaged products.

Joseph Stern, President of SunOpta Food Solutions commented, "We are very pleased to have completed this transaction as it enables us to vertically integrate and expand our industrial and retail citrus products business. We welcome Tom and all of the Lorton's employees to SunOpta. Lorton's has been a long standing supplier to SunOpta for our citrus program and this transaction continues the evolution of our strategic relationship. We believe that controlling our own operation will allow us to cost-effectively expand our industrial and packaged citrus programs."

According to SunOpta, purchase price for the assets and business was $2.5 million, on a debt free basis, subject to post closing working capital adjustments, plus a potential earn-out dependent upon the achievement of certain future targets. The acquisition of Lorton's assets and business is expected to be accretive to SunOpta in fiscal 2012.