The Mexican super bakery that has made strong inroads into the United States has moved its operation base even further north with the acquisition of Canada Bread for a reported $1.7 billion.

This ups the ante considerably for the company that is already the world's largest baker.

Maple Leaf Foods, which currently owns 90 percent of Canada Bread, announced the sale on Wednesday. Grupo Bimbo will pay $72 per share for the Canada Bread brand. According to the Financial Post, news of the sale sent the stock price up immediately by 7.3 percent in trading.

"This transaction maximizes the value of our investment in Canada Bread and focuses Maple Leaf on building its leadership in the consumer packaged meats business," said Maple Leaf Foods President and CEO Michael H. McCain to CBC Hamilton. "Grupo Bimbo is an excellent company with strong values and a global leadership position, with little overlap in our geographic markets."

"This makes for a highly complementary fit with our bakery operations and is expected to provide exciting opportunities for Canada Bread employees, customers and other business partners."

The deal comes four months after Maple Leaf Foods announced it was looking for a buyer for the division that has been seeing slipping sales in recent years.

"These things are always bitter sweet for an operator, like the people and operators at Maple Leaf," McCain told analysts in a conference call on Wednesday.

"Having said that, we think its an excellent outcome for all of the stakeholders under the circumstances, and particularly for the shareholders... Now, we're excited about our future in the protein business."

According to USA Today, Canada Bread has approximately 5,400 employees. Grupo Bimbo sells its products in 19 different countries, including the United States, where it bought Sara Lee in 2011 for $709 million.