Mizkan Group To Acquire Ragu & Bertolli From Unilever

22 May 2014 --- 22 May 2014 --- The Japanese condiments maker Mizkan Group has acquired Unilever’s North American pasta sauce businesses for a sum of $2.15 billion cash. The deal includes the Ragu and Bertolli brands as well as two production facilities.

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.

“This transaction allows us to further achieve our objectives of diversification and expansion of our international footprint,” said Mizkan chairman, Kazuhide Nakano. “Mizkan is strongly committed to the long-term growth of Ragu and Bertolli.”

The company revealed a five-year overseas expansion plan in January, stating that it needed to move into new geographical markets as the Japanese population shrinks.

The transaction for the business is expected to close by the end of June.