LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., May 9, 2019 (PRNewswire) — The Hain Celestial Group, Inc., a leading organic and natural products company with operations in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East providing consumers with A Healthier Way of Life, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell all of its equity interest in Hain Pure Protein Corporation, which includes the FreeBird and Empire Kosher businesses, to Aterian Investment Partners III, LP for a purchase price of $80 million, subject to adjustments.
The transaction is expected to close before June 30, 2019, the end of the Company's fiscal year.
"We are pleased to have entered into an agreement for the sale of our remaining Hain Pure Protein businesses," commented Mark L. Schiller, Hain Celestial's President and Chief Executive Officer. "This divestiture is another step forward in simplifying our organization aligned with our transformational strategic plan as we aggressively pursue margin enhancing initiatives to fuel long-term sustainable growth and profitability. We expect the sale of Hain Pure Protein to also help improve our balance sheet as we generate cash from the sale with which we plan to use in part to pay down debt. We believe these non-core brands will generate better results under the ownership of an organization that is focused on the protein category."