Premier Foods to sell off Harley’s, Robertson’s, Frank Cooper, Keiller, Gales and Sun-Pat brands for £200m
Premier Foods is to sell sweet spreads and Jellies brand Harley’s, Robertson’s Frank Cooper, Keiller, Gales and Sun-Pat to Celestial Group for £200m.
The sale follows Premier Foods strategy of prioritising investment behind its power brands.
Michael Clarke, CEO of Premier Foods, said: "This divestment is a major step forward in our strategy to simplify the business and focus on our Power Brands. Following completion of this sale, we will have raised around £275 million of the £330 million disposal proceeds that we committed to achieving by June 2014. This will represent a 22% reduction in our net debt since the Half Year.
Our sweet spreads and jellies business was not core to Premier Foods and our employees in this business will benefit from being part of an international company that is committed to investing in, and growing, these categories."
Irwin D. Simon, President and CEO of Hain Celestial, added: "In order for Hain Celestial to become the largest healthy food company in the United Kingdom, we needed to expand into Ambient Grocery where we have seen health and nutrition gain traction with consumers. The acquisition of the Premier Foods brands furthers our goal to expand in the United Kingdom with the addition of ambient grocery products. Key to the success will be the experienced workforce and management at the Histon facility who we look forward to working with."