OMAHA – The deal to create Ardent Mills, a flour milling venture involving Cargill, CHS and ConAgra Foods, faces a delay, according to a Nov. 25 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission by ConAgra Foods, Inc.

“The company previously expected the transaction to close late in calendar year 2013 and now expects the transaction to be completed in the first quarter of calendar 2014,” ConAgra Foods said in the filing. “The company has revised the timeline due to various reasons, including the ongoing regulatory review process and discussions with the U.S. Department of Justice.”

Announced this past March, Ardent Mills would merge the flour milling operations of ConAgra Mills and Horizon Milling, a Cargill-CHS joint venture formed in 2002, and operate as an independent joint venture. The new business will be headquartered in Denver once the transaction is complete.