Drea Knufken
Pinnacle Foods Group, owned by private equity firm Blackstone Group, will buy frozen-food provider Birds Eye Foods for $1.3 billion. Bloomberg has the scoop:
Blackstone Group LP’s Pinnacle Foods Group LLC agreed to buy Birds Eye Foods Inc., the largest U.S. frozen-vegetable company, for $1.3 billion, adding to its Duncan Hines and Swanson food brands as the pace of buyouts increases.
The transaction should close by the first quarter of next year, Pinnacle said today in a statement. The deal will be funded with new debt financing at the company and an equity contribution from New York-based Blackstone, the world’s biggest private-equity company.
Birds Eye has sales of more than $930 million, according to Pinnacle. The Rochester, New York-based company is currently owned by Pro-Fac Cooperate Inc., a New York agricultural cooperative; funds affiliated with Vestar Capital Partners, a New York-based buyout firm; and Birds Eye management.
Image: Brands of the World
