Hormel Foods will acquire the Skippy peanut butter brand from Unilever for a consideration of around US$700m, it emerged today (3 January). 

Unilever, which announced it was “considering options” for Skippy in October, announced this afternoon it has reached an agreement to sell Skippy as it looks to “sharpen” its global portfolio. 

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“As we continue to sharpen our portfolio to deliver sustainable growth for Unilever, we believe that the potential of the Skippy brand can now be more fully realised with Hormel Foods,” Kees Kruythoff, president of Unilever North America, said. 

The news looks set to reignite ongoing speculation that Unilever could be pulling back from its food portfolio in order to focus on its faster growing personal care business. 

The transaction includes Skippy manufacturing facilities in Little Rock, Ark, and Weifang, China. Skippy generates annual turnover of around $370m and the deal is expected to close early this year.

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