Unilever Agrees to Sell Sauce Brands to Mizkan for $2.15

Unilever (UNA), the maker of Magnum ice cream and TRESemme shampoo, agreed to sell the Ragu and Bertolli North America pasta sauces business to Japanese food manufacturer Mizkan Group for about $2.15 billion in cash.

The brands have annual sales of more than $600 million, the company said today in a statement. Unilever said it expects to conclude the transaction by the end of June.

“This sale represents one of the final steps in reshaping our portfolio in North America,” Kees Kruythoff, president of Unilever’s business in that region, said in the statement.

(Source: Bloomberg)