Borden Buys Its Second County Company in Two Months: MCP Foods of Anaheim
New York-based Borden said Tuesday that it has increased its Orange County holdings by purchasing MCP Foods of Anaheim, a producer of industrial citrus flavorings.
MCP is the second county food firm bought by Borden in the last two months. In September, the food giant bought Laura Scudder’s, an Anaheim maker of peanut butter and snack foods.
MCP is one of eight companies purchased by Borden for a combined total of $55 million, the company said. The transactions increase the number of recent acquisitions by Borden to 39, with 24 completed so far this year, said R.J. Ventres, chairman and chief executive.
“It is in line with everything they have been doing,” said Mary Schoenbrod, an analyst with Duff & Phelps in Chicago. “It makes perfect sense to me.”
MCP employs about 110 workers at its Anaheim plant, where it produces liquid, spray-dried and extruded flavorings for industrial use. The company also makes citrus pectins, which are used in jelly products.
James McCrory, Borden vice president for public affairs, estimated MCP’s fiscal 1987 sales at $16 million but declined to divulge the company’s earnings or its selling price.
In addition to MCP, Borden also has purchased a flavorings business from Sherman Oaks-based Sunkist Growers. McCrory characterized the business as “some flavor patents . . . a minor activity” at Sunkist.
McCrory said MCP’s work force will probably be increased because Borden plans to move the Sunkist production to Anaheim.
Officials at MCP and Sunkist could not be reached for comment.
“These acquisitions directly advance our growth strategy,” Ventres said in a prepared statement. “The two citrus businesses strengthen our profitable niche position in supplying the food industry with specialty flavorings and ingredients.”
“We’ve gotten some fabulous things in the recent acquisitions,” McCrory said, adding that MCP “is a good business.”
The other six operations acquired by Borden include the dairy businesses of Salt Lake City-based Borman’s; the Furr’s grocery and cafeteria chain based in Lubbock, Tex.; Borges GmbH of Osnabruck, West Germany; James Seeman Studios; Cassidy-Hicks Wallcovering of Denver, and the distribution operations of Fisher Wallpaper & Paint of Detroit.
