Quaker Oats to Sell Liqui-Dri Foods Business

The Quaker Oats Company has reached an agreement to sell Liqui-Dri Foods, Inc. to Value Added Bakery Company. VABCO is a new entity formed by Wind Point Partners III, L.P. of Southfield, MI, and consumer products and bakery industry executives, David L. Bere and Walter G. Van Benthuysen. Bere, who was most recently president of McCain Foods, will be CEO of VABCO, and Van Benthuysen will be non-executive chairman.

Liqui-Dri's product line includes frozen biscuits, frozen hotcakes, dry biscuit mixes and dry hotcake mixes, which are sold to foodservice customers in the U.S. and Canada. Liqui-Dri employs approximately 350 people, primarily at two facilities in Louisville, KY. Subject to satisfaction of conditions to closing, the sale is expected to be completed by the end of Jan. 1999.

The Quaker Oats Company, headquartered in Chicago, is an international marketer of foods and beverages.