SunOpta offers $47.25m common shares to cover debt

In November, the Canadian food group announced a drop in Q3 operating profits over the same quarter the previous year due to losses from its sunflower division, while operating profits for its food division increased over 50 percent on a on a year to date basis.

SunOpta's model for its food business has been diversification as it has been edging its way into supplying ingredients such as acai, oat and soy fiber products.

In its November 2006 financial statement, SunOpta reported US$39,9m in bank indebtedness, up from $20,8m in the previous year. The company's accounts payable and accrued liabilities stood at $56m.

Gross proceeds of the offering are expected to amount to approximately $46.8m and the closing of the offering is projected for February 13, 2007.

In September, the group acquired supplier Purity Life Health Products to expand its distribution network, but problems with the company's sunflower crops still had a $2.1m impact on gross margin losses.

The company has three business units. The SunOpta Food Group sources, processes and distributes natural products. The Opta Minerals Group recycles environmentally friendly industrial materials and the SunOpta BioProcess Group engineers and markets proprietary steam explosion technology systems for the pulp, bio-fuel and food processing industries.

The price of the shares to the public will be $10.40 per share.