Acquisition Of Juice Co. No Worry In Littleton
200 jobs will stay put
The words "acquisition," "merger" and "buyout" are generally associated with more ominous phrases like "relocation," "layoffs" or "job cuts."
And those words were whispered recently in Littleton on news that Sunny Delight Beverages Co. of Cincinnati had purchased the Veryfine and Fruit2O brands from Kraft Foods Inc.
But officials from Sunny Delight say the 200 jobs at the Veryfine and Fruit2O factory in Littleton are safe.
Sunny Delight recently purchased the Very Fine/Fruit2O plant in Littleton from Kraft Foods.One Happy Family
In fact, Sydney McHugh, a spokeswoman for Sunny Delight Beverages, asserted that no layoffs are on the way.
"They will become our employees, and we're happy to have them," McHugh said of the Littleton operation. "No immediate changes to employment are planned at all. We hope they can help us all make this a smooth transition."
The Veryfine and Fruit2O brands had net revenues of approximately $135 million in 2006, according to Kraft. Kraft purchased Veryfine Products Inc. from the Rowse family in 2004. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Daniel Gray, the plant manager at Veryfine's Littleton facility declined to comment for this story, citing the fact that the company was still a part of Kraft Foods, pending final approval of the deal, which is expected to close sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.
Savas Danos, general manager of the Littleton Electric Light and Water Department, said he thought reductions at the Littleton plant were unlikely because Kraft has invested "millions of dollars" in upgrades to the facility's water purification systems, including a high-tech reverse osmosis system.
"They spent a significant amount of money on upgrades to get a high quality of water for the start of their products," Danos said.
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