B&G Foods Agrees to Buy Green Giant and Le Sueur Brands (Published 2015) (2024)

B&G Foods said on Thursday that it had agreed to acquire the Green Giant and Le Sueur brands for frozen and canned vegetables from General Mills for $765 million in cash.

The deal is the first entry into the frozen food category for B&G Foods, which owns the Cream of Wheat, Mrs. Dash, Ortega and Pirate’s Booty brands.

Following the transaction, General Mills, based in Minneapolis, will continue to operate the Green Giant business in Europe and select other export markets under license from B&G Foods. Its brands include Cheerios, Haagen-Dazs, Old El Paso and Yoplait.

“For over 100 years, Green Giant and Le Sueur have been providing consumers with great tasting, nutritious vegetables picked at the peak of perfection,^” Robert C. Cantwell, the B&G Foods president and chief executive, said in a news release. “We look forward to building on that rich history by offering new and innovative products that will respond to the needs of today’s health conscious consumer.”

The transaction requires regulatory approval and is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

The Green Giant and Le Sueur businesses included in the transaction generated net sales of about $585 million in fiscal year 2015, General Mills said in a news release.

General Mills said the sale was in line with its effort to reshape its portfolio to focus on brands, categories and geographic markets that have the greatest future growth opportunities. General Mills posted sales of $18.7 billion in fiscal year 2015.

B&G Foods, based in Parsippany, N.J., manufactures and sells a variety of branded food products in Canada, Puerto Rico and the United States. It posted sales of $848 million in fiscal year 2014.

Barclays, the Royal Bank of Canada and the law firm Dechert advised B&G Foods, while Rothschild advised General Mills.