TreeHouse Foods completes acquisition of ConAgra Foods’ private brands for $2.7bn

US-based TreeHouse Foods has completed the acquisition of the private brands operations of ConAgra Foods for $2.7bn in cash.

TreeHouse funded the deal by closing its earlier announced offerings of $775m in total principal senior notes that were due in 2024 with a 6% annual interest rate and common stock issuance of 13.3 million shares for $65 per share, aggregating $862.5m in total proceeds.

The remaining amount was availed under the company’s revolving credit facility.

The purchase of ConAgra’s private brands operations expands TreeHouse’s presence in private label dry and refrigerated grocery, and will be known as TreeHouse private brands.

Operating platforms of TreeHouse Foods will be Bay Valley Foods (with Flagstone Foods) and TreeHouse private brands.

With the private brands acquisition, TreeHouse Foods has pro forma sales of $7bn for twelve months that ended 31 December 2015, more than 50 manufacturing facilities and over 16,000 employees.

TreeHouse Foods president Sam K Reed said: "We are pleased to have closed the acquisition, and will continue to focus on driving shareholder value and offering our customers value without compromise through economies of scale, quality products and superior customer service.

"The private brands acquisition broadens our portfolio of offerings for our customers.

"We remain unwaveringly committed to supporting our customers’ efforts to build their corporate brands and offer consumers the best combination of choice and value.

"We are looking forward to working as one go-to market team to achieve success and will work tirelessly to develop the systems and infrastructure to deliver a seamless integration."