Loma Linda Parent Up For Auction After Failed SPAC

Atlantic Natural Foods (ANF), the parent company of plant-based brands Loma Linda, TUNO, neat and Kaffree Roma, has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Philippines-based Century Pacific North America Enterprise, Inc., aiming to restructure its supply chain under the organization nearly seven months after terminating a three-year relationship with regenerative food platform Above Foods Ingredients, Inc.

ANF filed for bankruptcy protections in April and, as of June 24, secured approval for bidding procedures from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana with Century Pacific setting the minimum offer as the stalking horse bidder. The process will remain open until July 24 and if additional qualified bids are placed, an auction will commence on July 28.

According to ANF chairman and general partner Douglas Hines, since terminating its acquisition agreement with Above Foods, which commenced in 2021 and aimed to take the companies public via a SPAC merger with Bite Acquisition Corp., the plant-based food platform “experienced rapid cost escalation.”

The company said tariffs on steel, grains, spices and egg whites led to significant challenges in its supply chain and created a “critical business environment [that] proved too great and left no option for a clear path forward.” ANF shuttered production operations at its North Carolina plant in March and shifted manufacturing for its Loma Linda branded Iconic Big Franks, Fry Chick, and Skallops to its plant in the Philippines.

“The restructuring of government tariffs, inflation, price pressures from government and others, labor, insurance coupled with cybersecurity attacks which have created IT costs to increase three times which showed no relief on the near horizon,” he said in a statement. “There is simply too much uncertainty right now.”

The company said the production repositioning to Century Pacific has been in the works for over a year, indicating that it may have been facing pressures long before the Trump Administration’s tariff plan took effect and while it was still tied to Above Food. Above Food, which acquired pasta and pancake brand GoodWheat in May 2024 in an effort to push its SPAC plans forward, faced numerous stops and starts during its attempts to go public.

When ANF and Above terminated their agreement in December, both said they would retain collaborative ties and shares in the other company, but ANF would forgo future attempts at a public strategy.

“The past months have been the most painful business experience in my 50 years in the food industry,” Hines said. “However, our mission to ensure a continuing food source for the Adventist consumer has remained our No. 1 priority and in that we can take great pride in being able to ensure a successful future.”