Nestlé to divest frozen pasta unit Joseph’s Pasta to Brynwood Partners

Swiss food giant Nestlé has signed a deal with private equity investor Brynwood Partners to sell its frozen pasta business, Joseph’s Pasta, as part of its efforts to trim its portfolio of brands.

The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Headquartered in Haverhill, Massachusetts, Joseph’s Pasta manufactures and markets a range of frozen stuffed pasta and primarily caters to the foodservice segment.

The company’s pasta and sauce products include stuffed cannelloni, stuffed ravioli, stuffed tortellini, gnocchi, and manicotti.

Nestlé USA corporate and brand affairs vice president Hannah Coan was quoted by The Wall Street Journal as saying, "The decision to sell Joseph’s Pasta was driven by our increased focus on Nestlé USA’s retail brands."

Brynwood Partners stated that it plans to finance the deal with its recently raised $400m fund, Brynwood Partners VII.

Brynwood Partners senior managing partner Henk Hartong said, "We look forward to investing in the business and working with Joseph’s loyal and talented employees to grow and enhance the business."

With the latest deal, the private equity firm has to date acquired five businesses from the Swiss giant, including Flipz in 2004, Turtles in 2007 and Bit-O-Honey in 2013.

Last month, it purchased the SnackWell’s cookies and snacks business from Mondelez International and signed a deal with Turkish firm Yildiz Holdings to sell its DeMet’s Candy unit for $221m.

In October 2013, Nestlé said that it was looking to sell certain underperforming businesses, in order to improve its overall performance after missing expectations in recent quarters.

In November, the company agreed to sell its Jenny Craig business unit to North Castle Partners.

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Image: Joseph’s Pasta offers stuffed cannelloni, stuffed ravioli, stuffed tortellini, gnocchi, and manicotti. Photo courtesy of zole4 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.