Mizkan Completes Pasta Sauce Acquisition from Unilever

01 Jul 2014 --- Japanese food manufacturer Mizkan Holdings has completed the purchase of the US pasta sauce brands of consumer goods giant Unilever. The deal, worth just over $2bn, gives Mizkan control of the Ragu and Bertolli brands.

Mizkan, based in central Japan, plans to operate the brands under a new company called R&B Foods.

The annual turnover for both Ragu and Bertolli combined is more than $600million. The transaction includes the two brands and also two production facilities: a sauce processing and packaging facility in Owensboro, Kentucky, and a tomato processing facility in Stockton, California.

“This sale represents one of the final steps in reshaping our portfolio in North America to deliver sustainable growth for Unilever, and enables us to sharpen our focus within our foods business,” said Kees Kruythoff, president of Unilever North America. “The Ragu and Bertolli business leads the pasta sauce category in the United States, and we believe that the potential of both brands can be fully realized with Mizkan.”

Unilever is said to be still looking into options for its Slimfast brand, as it continues to restructure its North American food business. Recently the consumer goods company sold its Skippy peanut butter and Wishbone salad dressings in the United States and it sold its Peperami brand in Europe, in order to focus on higher-margin products such as brands within its healthcare portfolio. It also sold its Ragu brand in Britain in 2011.

Ragu is the best-selling sauce in the US, and is reported to have 27% of the market. The brand was founded in 1937 and acquired by Unilever in 1987. Bertolli is the second-largest brand in the US premium pasta sauce market.

Mizkan, one of the world’s largest suppliers of rice vinegar, now has a bigger footprint in the US and is able to diversify further out of the Japanese market.  The Asian company was founded 210 years ago.