Minute Rice brand sold

Jul. 28--Spanish rice continues to grow in Houston.

Madrid-based Ebro Puleva on Thursday announced it would pay Northfield, Ill.-based Kraft Foods Global about $280 million for the Minute Rice brand and make it part of its Houston-based Riviana Foods subsidiary.

As part of the deal, Ebro Puleva will get the Minute Rice brand and rice equipment located at Kraft's plants in Houston and Ontario, Canada, but not the two facilities.

In Houston, Minute Rice is produced at the Maxwell House plant on Harrisburg Boulevard. Coffee is also produced at that East End plant, but the acquisition does not include the sale of the coffee business to Ebro Puleva.

As part of Riviana Foods, Minute Rice will join Riviana's Mahatma, Carolina and Success rice brands.

The deal comes two years after Ebro Puleva bought Riviana Foods for $380 million. In 2003, another Spanish food company -- SOS Cuetara -- bought Houston's American Rice for $41 million. American Rice makes Adolphus and other rice brands.

"Minute Rice's strong brand position provides an exciting opportunity for Riviana Foods to enter the Canadian rice business," Bastiaan de Zeeuw, Riviana's president and CEO, said in a written statement.