Benzinga | Feb 11, 2021 12:54PM EST

Kraft Heinz Confirms Sale Of Planters Brand To Hormel Foods

Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC) confirmed Thursday the sale of its nuts business to Hormel Foods Corp (NYSE:HRL) for $3.35 billion.

What Happened: The majority of products included in the transaction include those sold under the Planters brand, including single and mixed nuts, trail mix nuts, among others. The deal also includes Kraft's global intellectual property rights to the Planters brand and property including two of Kraft's Planters production facilities.

Media reports from early February said Kraft was eyeing a sale of its iconic Planters snack brand and other nuts products to Hormel Foods for $3 billion.

Why It's Important: Kraft's sale is consistent with management's strategy of prioritizing growth areas and taking action to divest other units as needed.

"This is a great example of using agile portfolio management to improve our growth trajectory," said Kraft Heinz CFO Paulo Basilio

Basilio also said Kraft will "continue deleveraging as we explore accretive investments to accelerate our strategy."