Monument Advisors, an Indianapolis-based private equity fund, has acquired Separators, Inc., also located in Indianapolis. Separators, Inc. specializes in the reconditioning and manufacturing of industrial centrifuge equipment used in various industries including dairy, and juice. Monument Advisors, along with new management, purchased the assets of Separators, Inc. in June. John Campbell, Monument's pres./CEO, is a former Alcoa executive. The former owner and CEO of Separators Inc., Ken Army, will serve in a consulting capacity for a period of time to ensure a successful transition.

In order to keep in pace with market growth, Danisco is investing $3.5 million (EUR 3 million) to significantly increase the capacity of its production facility in Sassenage, France. The new manufacturing facilities will be made available gradually with full capacity being reached by the end of 2007. The plan comprises both the de-bottlenecking of existing manufacturing lines and a major investment in new state-of-the art equipment.

Last October, Danisco already announced a capacity expansion for frozen cultures at its German site in Niebüll to be effective at the beginning of 2006.

National Starch Food Innovation, Bridgewater, N.J., is raising prices in North America on its food and pharmaceutical starches, effective Nov. 7. The increase is the result of 18 months of substantial and escalating cost pressures, and will range from 8% to 10%, depending on the level of processing required for the product. Significantly higher costs for energy and petroleum-based conversion chemicals used in manufacturing processes, as well as increased transportation and packaging costs, are the reasons for the increase, according to National Starch Food Innovation officials.

Louisiana-based Intralox, one of the world's largest suppliers of modular plastic conveyor belts, is working its way back to normalcy after being shut down by Hurricane Katrina. Despite the destruction in the New Orleans area, Intralox's facilities remained dry and undamaged - including the 3-6 month supply of 50 million unassembled parts. This is largely because of the company's location in Harahan, Louisiana which benefits from one of the highest elevations in the New Orleans area. Although the campus was spared, widespread damage in surrounding areas meant Intralox was not able to return to normal U.S. operations. With power, telephone and data systems down, and almost 1,000 local jobs to save, Intralox worked closely with Jefferson Parish officials and utility companies such as Cox Communications to return services to the campus. By September 16, less than a month after the storm, Intralox was fully operational.

Johanna Foods, of Flemington, New Jersey, whose popular brands include La Yogurt, Tree Ripe Juices and Ssips drink boxes, is known for setting the highest standards for product excellence and value. This year American Conveyor Corp. was honored as a vendor that adheres to and delivers on those same standards with Johanna Food's Presidential Award for Excellence. American Conveyor's president Valdi Friedman was cited for his company having gone the extra mile in providing products, service, and support twenty-four hours a day, six days a week for ten years, in effect establishing a partnership with Johanna that allowed them to achieve a standard of excellence that set them apart both as a company to work for and to buy from.

FKI Logistex®, a global leader in integrated material handling solutions, has sold its White Systems unit in a management buyout in conjunction with Management Capital, LLC. The company says that as part of the global realignment of products and markets, it became apparent that White Systems was no longer a part of its strategic core product set.

It also said it would ensure support of existing systems, and work with the new White Systems team on behalf of FKI Logistex customers.

RefrigiWear, a leading manufacturer of insulated industrial work wear, accessories and equipment is honoring 10 winners of its sixth annual Outstanding Warehouseman Award. Included in the group is Thomas Mahoney of Edy's Ice Cream's Lawrenceville, Ga. facility. The winners, nominated by the winners' supervisors and senior-level management, were selected based on their length of service, integrity, productivity, motivation, attitude and leadership abilities. Nearly 250 nominations, the most ever received by RefrigiWear, were submitted for this year's award from a variety of industries including broadline food distribution, cold storage warehouses, food manufacturers, supermarkets and food services. For more information visit www.RefrigiWear.com.

AEA Investors LLC has acquired substantially all of Pactiv Corporation's protective and flexible packaging business units for approximately $530 million. Effective immediately, the acquired businesses will operate as Pregis Corporation. The acquisition includes diverse protective, flexible and foodservice packaging and hospital supply products both in North America and Europe. Key products include inflatable void-fill systems, Microfoam® and polyethylene sheet foam products, Hefty Express® mailers, Jiffy® mailers (Europe), Hexacomb® honeycomb, bubble air cushioning, engineered foam plank, flexible films, rigid food containers (Europe) and hospital supplies (Europe).

A site evaluation is underway to select Pregis' new headquarters. In the interim, Pregis headquarters will operate at its current location in Lake Forest, Ill. European operations will continue to be headquartered in Amstelveen, The Netherlands.

With expectations that the lactic acid and lactic acid derivatives market will continue to grow by more than 10% annually, Purac, a subsidiary of CSM, has started construction of a lactic acid plant in Thailand. The investment in the new site will be more than $100 million (Euro 98 Million), which includes the lactic acid plant and other facilities such as a sodium/potassium lactates plant, offices, warehouses, and utilities. The new lactic acid plant will have a capacity of 100,000 tons undiluted. The sodium/potassium lactate facility will have a capacity of 15,000 tons.