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Pierre Foods to merge with two other companies

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Staff Report 3:51 PM Wednesday, July 28, 2010

CINCINNATI — Within a couple months, Pierre Foods will be officially become Advance Pierre Foods after a merger with Advance Brands and Advance Food Co. is complete.

Officials with all three companies announced Tuesday, July 27, their respective boards approved the companies to enter into a definitive merger agreement.

Pierre Foods is a supplier of food products to multiple industries, including food service, vending and schools. According to a joint press release, the new company will be a “leading supplier of value-added protein and handheld convenience food products.”

“The new and expanded product offerings and distribution network will give our combined customers tremendous variety, quality and value,” said Bill Toler, current Pierre Foods CEO. “Our businesses are wonderfully complementary.”

Advance Pierre Foods will be headquartered in Cincinnati. Pierre Foods rents a warehouse on Distribution Drive in Fairfield. According to the company, Pierre occupies half of the 350,000-square-foot facility and stores 15,000 pallets of frozen food product.

Some divisional leadership of the new company will be based in Oklahoma. Protein processing facilities will be operated in Oklahoma, Ohio and Iowa. Sandwich assembly facilities will be in North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina. The company will also operate bakeries in North Carolina and Oklahoma.

Toler will become CEO Advance Pierre Foods once the merger is complete. Advance Food Co. CEO Greg Allen will join the new company’s board of directors. The new management team will include executives from the three existing companies.

“Putting our companies together truly combines the best of both worlds for all of our customers and creates a world class organization to serve their needs,” said Billy McPherson, Vice President of Sales for Advance Brands.

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