Dive Brief:
- TreeHouse Foods has signed an agreement to acquire ConAgra Foods' private brands business for $2.7 billion.
- Following the acquisition's completion, annual sales of the combined businesses will be almost $7 billion.
- This acquisition makes TreeHouse the largest private label food and beverage manufacturer in the U.S., according to a news release.
Dive Insight:
"The union of TreeHouse and ConAgra's private brands business establishes an industry leader in customer brands and custom products with significant scale, scope and skill and enables us to extend our reach in the grocery store by over 10 shelf stable and refrigerated food categories. Importantly, the combination will also strengthen our ability to support our customers' efforts to build their corporate brands and offer consumers the best combination of choice and value," Sam K. Reed, chairman and CEO of TreeHouse Foods, said in a statement.
While TreeHouse grows in scale and scope with this deal, ConAgra is able to shed a unit that has dragged down profits for multiple quarters since its purchase in 2013. ConAgra CEO Sean Connolly announced in June the company would divest the private brands sector after falling profits and pressure from investors, and rumors about TreeHouse's interest.