Unilever set to lose its Ragu
Unilever is reportedly eyeing up a sale of its Ragu pasta sauce brand to the likes of Heinz or Kraft after the consumer goods giant appointed Morgan Stanley to sell the business.
According to Ad Age Unilever expects to receive between $1.5bn and $2bn for the business by sparking a bidding war between condiments giant Heinz and Kraft Foods.
Ragu has enjoyed success on the back of its ‘Long Day of Childhood’ campaign and its sale would dovetail with Unilever CEO Paul Polman’s desire to offload its food brands in the wake of sales of both Skippy peanut butter and Wish-Bone last year.
More recently Unilever sold its Peperami brand just last month with the Slim-Fast diet business expected to be next in line for sale.
Unilever rakes in sales of $1.2bn a year from pasta sauces – of which $480m derives from Ragu sales.