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Post Holdings to Spend $90M on Northwest Egg Supplier

Post Holdings plans to spend $90 million to buy an egg producer that serves the Northwest in a deal announced a few months after the cereal maker's egg supply took a hit from a deadly bird flu outbreak.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Post Holdings plans to spend $90 million to buy an egg producer that serves the Northwest in a deal announced a few months after the cereal maker's egg supply took a hit from a deadly bird flu outbreak.

St. Louis-based Post said Wednesday that Willamette Egg Farms LLC will be combined with its existing Michael Foods egg business after the deal is completed. The company expects that to happen early in its first fiscal quarter of 2016.

Willamette owns two egg production facilities in Oregon and Washington.

Post Holdings Inc. said in May that roughly 20 percent of its egg supply had been impacted by a deadly bird flu outbreak that hit the Midwest.

In June, Michael Foods sued an Iowa egg farm, accusing it of breaching its contract after bird flu disrupted the egg supply.

Michael Foods primarily supplies extended shelf-life liquid and precooked egg products and eggs used in food ingredients.

Shares of Post Holdings closed at $67.33 on Tuesday and have soared more than 60 percent so far this year.