OAK BROOK, ILL. — TreeHouse Foods, Inc. will acquire a majority of the US branded pasta business of Riviana Foods, Houston, Texas, for $242.5 million. Several regional pasta brands will be a part of the transaction, but it will not include Riviana’s Ronzoni national brand.
Riviana Foods is a business unit of Ebro Foods, Madrid, Spain.
“The acquisition of Ebro’s well-known regional pasta brands further strengthens our portfolio and expands our scale to better serve our national and regional customers,” said Steve Oakland, chief executive officer and and president of TreeHouse Foods. “Our existing private label and regional brand pasta business will be a natural complement to the acquired brands and will enable us to further optimize our production network, improve capacity utilization and deliver greater profitability and free cash flow.”
Regional pasta brands included in the transaction include Skinner, No Yolks, American Beauty, Creamette, San Giorgio, Prince and Light ‘n Fluffy, Mrs. Weiss’, Wacky Mac, P&R Procino-Rossi and New Mill. TreeHouse Foods will also take ownership of a manufacturing plant in St. Louis, Mo., that employs 90.
The businesses to be acquired generated approximately $200 million in sales during the 12-month period ended June 30. TreeHouse management expects the acquisition will be accretive by 20¢ to 30¢ per share in the first full year after closing. The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2020.
“The work we have done over the past several years to strengthen our operating platform and realign our businesses into two distinct segments has positioned us well to execute this transaction and integrate the pasta business,” Mr. Oakland said. “We are confident this accretive acquisition, along with the significant progress we have made in generating free cash flow this year, will enhance our ability to drive shareholder value.”
