Brantley Partners Sells Best Brands

Brantley Partners has completed its sale of Best Brands Corp., a Minnetonka, Minn.-based bakery manufacturer, to CSM Bakery Supplies North America. The deal was valued at $510 million in cash.

PRESS RELEASE

CSM, Bakery Supplies North America announced its successful acquisition of Best Brands Corp., one of the largest premium bakery manufacturers in the U.S., effective March 19, 2010. The acquisition of Best Brands brings unparalleled product depth to the organization while complementing the customer service commitment of CSM globally. The combined sales of Bakery Supplies North America will be in excess of $2.3 billion. Best Brands has a leading position in value-added frozen products sold to in-store bakeries, which are complimentary to CSM’s H.C. Brill product and customer portfolio, and is well positioned in segments and product categories that CSM BSNA has targeted for future growth.

While the majority of Best Brands business will be integrated with H.C. Brill, the distribution business of Best Brands will be integrated with BakeMark, CSM’s bakery distribution arm in North America. CSM’s intent is for the integration to be seamless to our customers. The newly formed organization will offer a broader product portfolio of best in class products.

The agreement to acquire Best Brands was announced in a press release on February 4, 2010. The US antitrust waiting period has expired.

About CSM:

CSM is the largest supplier of bakery products worldwide and is global market leader in lactic acid and lactic acid derivatives. CSM produces and distributes an extensive range of bakery products and ingredients for artisan and industrial bakeries, in-store and out-of-home markets. It also produces a variety of lactic acid applications for the food, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. CSM operates in business-to-business markets throughout Europe, North America, South America, and Asia, generates annual sales of euro 2.6 billion and has a workforce of around 8,450 employees in 25 countries. CSM is listed on Euronext Amsterdam. For more information: www.csmglobal.com.

About Best Brands:

Best Brands is one of the largest premium bakery manufactures in the US market, committed to providing high quality innovative products and services to the baking industry. Its broad product portfolio includes laminated dough, cakes, muffins, fillings and mixes. Best Brands has a leading position in value-added frozen products sold to in-store bakeries. Furthermore, Best Brands serves food service customers and retail and wholesale bakeries through its three distribution centers. Best Brands also goes to market with the well-known Multifoods brand. The company has 6 major production facilities across the United States, and is headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Best Brands was founded in 1971 and has a workforce of 1,580 people. For more information: www.bestbrandscorp.com.