Conagra Divests Van de Kamp’s, Mrs. Paul’s Seafood Brands

Conagra is selling off more brands, this time moving its Van de Kamp’s and Mrs. Paul’s frozen seafood brands to their co-manufacturer, High Liner Foods, in a $55 million cash deal.

According to an announcement today, the deal only divests the intellectual property rights and inventory for the two brands, but does not include employees or manufacturing facilities.

High Liner Foods currently co-manufactures products for both brands in the U.S. and also produces a number of other frozen seafood lines in North America including Fisher Boy, Mirabel, Sea Cuisine, and Catch of the Day.

“This divestiture reflects our continued commitment to reshaping our portfolio and investing where we see the best opportunities for growth and innovation,” said Sean Connolly, Conagra president and CEO, in a release. “Van de Kamp’s and Mrs. Paul’s operate largely as a stand-alone seafood business, and this divestiture allows us to further focus our efforts on strengthening our core frozen offerings.”

The move comes just one month after Conagra agreed to sell legacy pasta brand Chef Boyardee to Hometown Food Company for $600 million.

Combined, Van de Kamp’s and Mrs. Paul’s accounted for around $75 million in net sales during Conagra’s fiscal year 2024.

The deal is expected to close by the end of July, and proceeds from the sale will go towards paying down debt.

Conagra reported declines to both net sales and organic net sales – down 6.3% and 5.2%, respectively – in its third-quarter earnings report for the period ending February 23.

The conglomerate has struggled with its supply chain in recent months, noting that its refrigerated and frozen business in particular took a hit of 7.2% in the last quarter, with sales of the segment down to $1.1 billion.