• January 3, 2013

Hormel Foods Corp. has agreed to acquire the Skippy peanut butter brand from Unilever for approximately $700 million.

The deal will enable Hormel to grow its branded presence in the center store of supermarkets with a non-meat protein product and "reinforce" its balanced portfolio, Hormel CEO Jeffrey M. Ettinger told The Wall Street Journal, adding that Skippy will also strengthen Hormel's global presence and complement its sales strategy with Spam in China.

Total annual Skippy sales are projected at about $370 million, with nearly $100 million of that outside the U.S.

Skippy is second in share in its category in the U.S., and the leading brand in China. It is sold in more than 30 countries on five continents.

Hormel, maker of Dinty Moore stew and Jennie-O Turkey Store, as well as Spam and other meat and packaged products, saw fiscal Q4 earnings rise 13%.