Giant U.S. food and grain-handling companies ConAgra Foods Inc, Cargill and CHS Inc plan to combine their North American flour milling businesses into a new venture that would control more than a third of U.S. capacity, dwarfing all competitors in size and market reach.Dubbed Ardent Mills, the operation would encompass 44 flour mills with locations coast to coast, from California to Massachusetts as well as bakery mix and specialty bakery facilities, with footholds in Canada and Puerto Rico.News of the plan caught many in the industry by surprise, although officials said they have been in discussions about a combination for well over a year, and prompted instant speculation that U.S. officials might push back due to antitrust concerns.The venture would control roughly 34 percent of the U.S. market in terms of milling capacity, with total daily wheat and durum flour capacity for the combined company around 576,100 hundredweight (cwt).
ConAgra Foods, Inc. (ConAgra Foods) is a food company. Shares of CAG traded higher by 0.12% or $0.04/share to $34.73. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $23.64 and as high as $34.76. On average, 4008430 shares of CAG exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3033121.
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