Dive Brief:
- Treehouse Foods has announced that the company is doubling the number of ConAgra Foods employees it will hire in Omaha, NE, to 280 instead of 140.
- Treehouse is also selecting a site for a new office in Omaha, where employees will focus on customer service, finance, information technology, R&D, and supply chain.
- In total, TreeHouse will welcome about 9,500 ConAgra employees to the company's team.
Dive Insight:
ConAgra initially acquired the private brands business in 2013 from Ralcorp Holdings for $6.8 billion, but ConAgra wasn't able to make the segment profitable enough. After enough earnings reports felt the impact from the private brands business' shortcomings, ConAgra decided in June to divest the business and began searching for a buyer. In November, TreeHouse Foods agreed to take the private brands business for $2.7 billion.
With this acquisition, TreeHouse becomes the country's largest private brands producer and adds more than 10 new categories to the company's portfolio. The two companies are expected to wrap up the deal in Q1.
ConAgra has made a number of other major changes since deciding to divest private brands and recenter its efforts on its current brands to make them more competitive, including splitting into two companies and expanding brands like Hunt's with organic offerings.