M&A Deal Summary

Pinnacle Foods Acquires Birds Eye Foods

On December 1, 2009, Pinnacle Foods acquired food company Birds Eye Foods from Vestar Capital Partners for 1.3B USD

Acquisition Highlights
  • This is Pinnacle Foods’ 2nd transaction in the Food sector.
  • This is Pinnacle Foods’ largest (disclosed) transaction.
  • This is Pinnacle Foods’ 2nd transaction in the United States.
  • This is Pinnacle Foods’ 1st transaction in New York.

M&A Deal Summary
Date 2009-12-01
Target Birds Eye Foods
Sector Food
Buyer(s) Pinnacle Foods
Sellers(s) Vestar Capital Partners
Deal Type Add-on Acquisition
Deal Value 1.3B USD
Advisor(s) Centerview Partners
UBS Investment Bank
J.P. Morgan Securities (Financial)
Kirkland & Ellis (Legal)

Target

Birds Eye Foods

Rochester, New York, United States
Birds Eye Foods, Inc. is a food marketing company. Its familiar brands in the frozen aisle include Birds Eye, Birds Eye Voila!, C&W, Freshlike and McKenzie's.

Search 200,500 Deals Now

SEARCH BY

  • Buyer Type (PE or Strategic)
  • Deal Size ($10M to $10B+)
  • Sector (60 Sectors)
  • Deal Type
  • Geography
  • & More

Try For Free 7-Day Free Trial

Buyer(S) 1

Buyer

Pinnacle Foods

Parsippany, New Jersey, United States
Category Company
Sector Food
Employees4,900
Revenue 3.1B USD (2017)
DESCRIPTION

Pinnacle Foods, Inc. is a manufacturer and marketer of branded convenience food products in the United States and Canada. Its product range includes frozen dinners and entrees, frozen seafood, breakfasts, bagels, pickles, peppers and relish, baking mixes and frostings, and syrups and pancake mixes.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 2 of 5
Sector (Food) 2 of 5
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 1 of 3
State (New York) 1 of 1
Country (United States) 2 of 3
Year (2009) 1 of 1
Size (of disclosed) 1 of 4
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2003-10-14 Aurora Foods

St. Louis, Missouri, United States

Aurora Foods Inc. is a producer and marketer of leading food brands, including Duncan Hines(R) baking mixes; Log Cabin(R), Mrs. Butterworth's(R) and Country Kitchen(R) syrups; Lender's(R) bagels; Van de Kamp's(R) and Mrs. Paul's(R) frozen seafood; Aunt Jemima(R) frozen breakfast products; Celeste(R) frozen pizza and Chef's Choice(R) skillet meals. Aurora is based in St. Louis, Missouri.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2013-08-12 Unilever NV - Wish-Bone Salad Dressings

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Wish-Bone is a salad dressing brand in the Italian segment of the category.

Buy $580M

Seller(S) 1

SELLER

Vestar Capital Partners

New York, New York, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor

Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1988
PE ASSETS 11.0B USD
Size Mega
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Vestar Capital Partners is a private equity firm that targets management buyouts and growth capital investments across North America and Europe in the consumer, business services, and healthcare sectors. The Firm looks to invest $50 to $150 million in transactions valued up to $1 billion. Specific areas of interest include food, apparel, household goods, retail, consumer services, industrial services, information services, manufacturing, distribution, transportation, financial services, media/communications, digital health media, and medical technology. Vestar Capital Partners was formed in 1988 and is based in New York City.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 38 of 66
Sector (Food) 2 of 6
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 15 of 28
State (New York) 5 of 5
Country (United States) 30 of 53
Year (2009) 2 of 2
Size (of disclosed) 6 of 21
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2009-07-05 Paris Re Holdings

Zug, Switzerland

Paris Re Holdings Ltd. is a property and casualty reinsurer with a global market presence.

Sell $2.0B
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2010-01-06 DynaVox Systems

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

DynaVox Systems LLC pioneers speech communication technology, giving an opportunity for a better life to the millions of adults and children around the world challenged by significant speech, language and learning disabilities caused by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease), stroke, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, Parkinson's Disease, autism and mental retardation.

Sell -
Mergr

Product

Company

Legal