General Mills Selling Green Giant, Le Sueur For $765M

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO/AP) — General Mills is selling its Green Giant and Le Sueur vegetable businesses to B&G Foods Inc. for about $765 million in cash.

Spokesman Tom Forsythe says the deal made sense.

"Green Giant is a strong brand but we have other growth opportunities within our product portfolio. We are prioritizing and this decision allows us to focus on brands and businesses that we think have stronger growth opportunities ahead," Forsythe said.

He said they will work with B&G in the transition.

"So we will continue to operate key aspects of the business including production for quite a few months until B&G is ready take all of those things over," Forsythe said

Forsythe added there will be a very limited impact on employees who work in Le Sueur.

"This is a great business and a great brand and we want it to continue to be a great business as soon as they have full control," he said.

The transaction includes businesses in the U.S., Canada and some other markets.

General Mills will still run Green Giant's European business and certain other export markets under license from B&G Foods.

The food company says that it plans to use net proceeds from the deal to lower debt and buy back stock.

The food company said Thursday that it plans to use net proceeds from the deal to lower debt and buy back stock.

General Mills Inc. anticipates the transaction adding about 5 cents to 7 cents per share to fiscal 2016 earnings, excluding transaction costs and a one-time gain on the sale.

The deal is targeted to close by year's end.

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