Toronto, July 17 - Maple Leaf Foods today announced that it has purchased 458,800 common shares of Canada Bread Company, Limited at a price of $71.15 per share for an aggregate consideration of $32,643,620. The shares were purchased on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
These shares, together with 158,400 shares purchased on May 13, 2005 and the 122,900 shares purchased on January 17, 2007, represent about 2.9% of Canada Bread's outstanding shares. Maple Leaf Foods now owns 22,818,515 common shares representing approximately 89.8% of the outstanding common shares of Canada Bread.
The shares were purchased for investment purposes. Maple Leaf Foods may or may not purchase additional shares of Canada Bread in the future, depending on market conditions.