Dive Brief:
- Miller Milling, the U.S. unit of Japan's Nisshin Flour Milling Inc., will buy four mills in the U.S. from three of the nation's largest grain processors.
- The sale helps clear the path for ConAgra, Cargill, and CHS to merge their flour-milling operations into a new company dubbed "Ardent Mills."
- Regulators have pushed the three to divest some flour-milling operations as a requirement for Ardent Mills winning approval.
Dive Insight:
Ardent Mills has been a long time coming, as the flour giants have been trying to win approval since 2012. But as Food Dive has noted before, regulators have been wise to move slowly before allowing the biggest players in the industry to consolidate.
Now that Miller Milling has stepped in to buy some operations, it would appear that the last hurdle has been cleared for Ardent Mills. That may turn out to be good news, as the industry is undergoing rapid transformation in the United States.