Meadow Gold bids to
buy Foremost’s assets

Meadow Gold Dairies is seeking to buy some of the assets of its defunct former rival Foremost Dairies-Hawaii.

Meadow Gold spokeswoman Jackie Smythe said the dairy processor and its parent company, Dean Foods, have submitted a bid to Foremost, which is seeking to sell the Foremost brand name, its fleet of trucks, and certain processing equipment.

Smythe said Foremost is offering the assets as an "all or nothing" bulk sale.

Meadow Gold and Dean Foods are among several interested parties, said Foremost spokeswoman Lynette Lo Tom.

Smythe said Meadow Gold had not originally intended to buy the assets after Foremost announced it was shutting down its operations. But Foremost's decision to shut down leaves Meadow Gold as the only dairy processor in the state and Meadow Gold realized it may need some of the assets to handle an expected increase in processing volume.

Tom said Foremost decided last week to shut down a month earlier than the original target date of Nov. 13 and accept bids on the assets.

Foremost first announced plans to permanently shut down and lay off its employees in September, saying its aging Kalihi plant required more investment in repairs and upgrades than its new owners could afford.

The company was purchased in January from Japan-based House Foods Corp. by an investor group led by Big Island dairy owner Bahman Sadeghi.

But Sadeghi's decision to exit the processing business has raised eyebrows.

House Foods has denied poor conditions at the plant and the state Department of Health, which has inspected the plant, has said it saw nothing there to warrant closing the plant. Teamsters officials, meanwhile, have suggested the move was a ploy to reorganize the dairy processor as a non-union company.