Meadow Gold’s
operations here sold

The dairy's new owner,
Southern Foods Corp., says no changes
are in store for Hawaii

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Meadow Gold Dairies Inc.'s Hawaii operations have been sold -- along with 17 dairy businesses on the mainland -- to a Dallas-based company.

The change, which is not expected to alter the way Meadow Gold Hawaii does business, is part of a $435 million sale of Borden Inc. subsidiaries to two separate groups.

Dairy company Southern Foods Corp., a partnership which includes Mid-America Dairymen Inc., bought the Hawaii business and others in Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Utah.

The Meadow Gold offices in Ogden, Utah, will be the headquarters.

In a separate transaction, Milk Products LLC, a Dallas-based partnership, bought nine other Borden/Meadow Gold dairy businesses in Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico.

Stu Gibson, a spokesman for Southern Foods, said there will be no changes in Meadow Gold's operations in Hawaii.

The island operations consist of milk processing plants in Honolulu and on the Big Island and Kauai and dairy farms in Waimanalo and on Kauai, with a total staff of nearly 300.

Borden, based in Columbus, Ohio, is owned by the investment firm of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

Borden said it will use the proceeds of the sale to pay down some of its debt and invest in its remaining businesses.

Borden said it wants to focus on chemicals and food products.

Anthony Ward, former chief executive of Borden's Meadow Gold unit, was picked to head Southern Foods.

"This transaction puts the Meadow Gold and former Borden dairies into the hands of owners who are strategically focused on the dairy business," said Robert Kidder, Borden chairman and chief executive officer.

Borden/Meadow Gold had sales of $900 million last year.

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Bloomberg News contributed to this report.