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The Maui News
Dean Foods' deal to sell most of Meadow Gold to MGD Acquisition for $7 million was approved late last month by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of Texas.
The sale included the facilities on Maui and Kauai and the leased-plant in Hilo, said Anne Divjak, vice president for government and industry relations for Dean Foods, last week. Meadow Gold's lease for the Hilo plant was conveyed to the new owner. The deal also included intellectual property.
Meadow Gold produces POG, a passion, orange and guava drink developed by Haleakala Dairy, which was purchased by Meadow Gold in 1999. It was Divjak's understanding that the new owners would continue marketing and distributing POG throughout the state.
She did not know the new owner's plans for Meadow Gold's Kahului facility. The deal did not include Meadow Gold's Honolulu plant, which was shuttered.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that Meadow Gold's buyer, through MGD Acquisition, was Bahman Sadeghi, who closed Foremost in 2004 and sold its assets to Meadow Gold.
A previous deal for Meadow Gold involving Industrial Realty Group fell through. That deal included assets on Oahu as well as the Neighbor Islands; a partnership with 8 Cow Dairies, a Hawaii-based company, was to manage operations.
Divjak said then that the prospective buyer terminated the agreement.
Dean Foods and its wholly owned subsidiaries have been under Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization since November. Parts of Dean Foods have been sold off.
Besides POG, Meadow Gold Hawaii produces milk under the Meadow Gold Dairy Pure and TruMoo labels, ice cream and other dairy products.