Aurora Foods plans closings in Missouri under bankruptcy
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Aurora Foods Inc., producer of Duncan Hines baking mixes, Lender's bagels and other foods, said it will close its Missouri operations under its bankruptcy plan to be folded into the maker of Vlasic pickles and Swanson frozen foods.
Aurora filed a prearranged Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan last month as part of its pending hookup with Pinnacle Foods Holding Corp. The company will shutter its St. Louis headquarters and a neighboring product-development center by the end of March, leaving most of its 170 corporate workers jobless.
Aurora also expects to consolidate the combined company's corporate functions at Pinnacle Foods' headquarters in the New Jersey cities of Mountain Lakes and Cherry Hill. Aurora's plants in Erie, Pa.; Jackson, Tenn.; and the Illinois towns of Matoon and St. Elmo are to remain running after the merger, their work forces "substantially unchanged."
Aurora has said it expects the reorganization and deal involving Pinnacle, announced in July, to be completed by March 31, pending court and regulatory approval.