May 30, 2006

Golden Oval acquires Moark assets in US$60 million deal

Golden Oval Eggs would acquire the liquid egg processing assets of egg producer Moark for about US$60 million, the company announced last week.

The acquisition, which company officials said would expand Golden Oval from a first-stage, regional egg processor to a national processor, is scheduled to be completed by Jul 1.

The transaction is to include five of Moark's facilities and stipulated that Moark would supply eggs for the five plants and also includes licensing agreement for the use of owner Land O'Lakes (LOL) brand on liquid egg products.

The acquisition of the liquid operations would fit in with both Golden Oval's and LOL's business development plans, according to Dana Persson, chief executive officer and president at Golden Oval.

LOL acquired Moark earlier this year.

Moark is the third-largest egg producer in the US with 14.2 million hens in production and sales reached US$407 million in 2005.

Golden Oval Eggs has 7.5 million hens in production and is the eighth-largest egg producer in the US.