Del Monte Foods to sell private label soup and infant feeding businesses

Posted on 06 March 2006

In an effort to focus on higher-margin, branded products, Del Monte Foods has entered into an agreement to sell its private label soup and infant feeding businesses to TreeHouse Foods for approximately $275 million, including a working capital adjustment.

”The divestiture of our private label soup and infant feeding businesses enables us to focus innovation initiatives and financial resources against faster-growing, margin-enhancing branded businesses that share a common go-to-market platform,” explains Richard G. Wolford, Del Monte's chairman and CEO. "The transactions streamline our company around our branded US retail go-to-market platform, eliminate a parallel private label platform and reduce total SKUs by close to 40%.”