TreeHouse Foods, Inc., a leading private label food manufacturer and distributor, has announced entering a definitive agreement to sell its ready-to-eat (RTE) cereal business to St. Louis-based Post Holdings. Sales of the business were approximately $260 million in 2018. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed, and the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, but is expected to be finalized in the third quarter of 2019.
"The ready-to-eat cereal category represents nearly $9 billion in revenue at retail, and therefore, the business has a long runway for growth. We believe that the RTE business has a wonderful opportunity to flourish under Post's ownership," said Steve Oakland, CEO and President of TreeHouse Foods. "Selling the ready-to-eat cereal business allows us to bring greater focus to the TreeHouse organization and represents another step on our portfolio optimization journey."
TreeHouse acquired the ready-to-eat cereal business from ConAgra Brands as part of the Private Brands transaction in 2016. The business has three manufacturing plants – Lancaster, Ohio; Sparks, Nevada; and Battle Creek, Michigan. TreeHouse previously announced it is closing the Battle Creek plant.
Post Holdings brands include Honey Bunches of Oats, Pebbles, Great Grains and Malt-O-Meal bag cereal.
