Thread: Mexico's Grupo Bimbo aquires Sara Lee

HSBC Cuts Mexican Baker Grupo Bimbo To Neutral From Overweight


MEXICO CITY -(Dow Jones)- HSBC cut its recommendation on shares of Mexican bakeries company Grupo Bimbo SAB (BIMBO.MX) to neutral from overweight Wednesday as Bimbo prepares to integrate the U.S. fresh bakery operations of Sara Lee Corp. (SLE) in an environment of volatile commodities prices.

Bimbo expects the $959 millionSara Lee transaction to close in the first half of this year.

"We believe that these assets are a solid fit for Bimbo's U.S. operations, as they will add scale and complementary products and brands, while providing cost savings and potential for operational optimizations," HSBC said in a note to investors.

HSBC says Bimbo management has the capabilities and experience to carry out the integration and extract synergies, which the company estimates between $150 million and $200 million. "However, the process could be challenging and time- consuming amidst the current environment of high and volatile commodity prices," the bank said.

HSBC raised its 12-month price target for Bimbo shares to 117 pesos ($9.89) from MXN110. Bimbo series A shares traded on the Mexican stock exchange were recently down 0.4% at MXN101.69.

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market ... overweight

Financed by:
Cheap money from bailed out banks..


Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo Gets $1.3 Billion Loan, Reuters SaysBy Carlos Manuel Rodriguez - Apr 25, 2011 12:36 PM CT

Grupo Bimbo SAB, Latin America’s largest bread maker, obtained a five-year, $1.3 billion loan that will be used to refinance debt, Reuters said, citing unidentified sources.

Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Citigroup and Banco Santander were among the 10 banks that participated in the loan, Reuters reported today. The Mexico City-based company’s loan will have an interest rate equal to the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, plus 1.10 percentage points, Reuters said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Carlos M. Rodriguez in Mexico City at carlosmr@bloomberg.net.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-2 ... -says.html

This is strange. Bimbo has owned Sara Lee for a number of years, I thought. Back in 2006 Grupo Bimbo's website proclaimed they were "proud suppliers of bakery goods to the NA union."