Angel Yeast Raises Phase II Investment in Baiyang Biotech Park to 1.061 Billion Yuan

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. will consolidate its U.S. plant protein production into a single Centre of Excellence in Indianapolis, winding down its Seattle and Turners Falls plants in phases through the fourth quarter of 2027. The move is part of the company's Fuel for Growth initiative, which aims to simplify its manufacturing footprint, enhance efficiency and support its plant protein brands more competitively. The consolidation update sits alongside Maple Leaf's recent first-quarter 2026 results, which showed CA$962.85 million in sales and CA$46.07 million in net income. Maple Leaf's narrative projects CA$5.6 billion in revenue and CA$467.3 million in earnings by 2028, requiring 4.2% yearly revenue growth and an earnings increase of about CA$372.7 million from CA$94.6 million today. Two fair value estimates from the Simply Wall St Community span CA$35.90 to CA$83.26, against a CA$35.90 fair value estimate that implies 45% upside to the current price.

Angel Yeast announced on the evening of September 24 that it plans to issue convertible bonds to unspecified investors, raising total proceeds of no more than 3.5 billion yuan, with a par value of 100 yuan per bond and a term of six years. After deducting issuance expenses, the net proceeds will mainly go toward yeast protein capacity construction and technical research projects. Of this, 955 million yuan will go to Phase II of the Baiyang Biotechnology Park project in the Yichang High-tech Zone, 890 million yuan to the Yichang company's core yeast protein technology research project, 775 million yuan to a green manufacturing project with annual output of 20,000 tonnes of yeast products, 200 million yuan to a flexible intelligent manufacturing and supporting project with annual output of 60,000 tonnes of food ingredients, and 680 million yuan to supplement working capital. The company also released an expansion plan for Phase II of the Baiyang Biotechnology Park project, with total investment adjusted from 797 million yuan to 1.061 billion yuan. The planned green manufacturing project for 20,000 tonnes of yeast protein and co-products per year has been raised to 32,000 tonnes per year. The company currently has yeast protein capacity of about 16,000 tonnes, operating at full production and full sales. The 12,000-tonne annual capacity in Phase II of Baiyang Biotechnology Park is expected to be completed in 2027, and the 32,000-tonne annual capacity will be completed in 2028.