Del Monte in talks to sell StarKist to South Korean company
Del Monte in talks to sell StarKist to South Korean company
Del Monte in talks to sell StarKist to South Korean company
Del Monte Foods Co. said Friday that it's in talks with
Discussions are in connection with Del Monte's previously announced exploration of what it calls "strategic alternatives" for its seafood business, the company said in a statement. No price was revealed.
StarKist accounts for about 10 percent of Del Monte's revenue, but the operation is facing ever-higher fish costs.
Dongwon Enterprise Co., the unlisted holding company of the Dongwon Group, hasn't made a decision on the purchase, two publicly traded affiliates said in separate statements to the Korean stock exchange in response to a query. Maeil Business Newspaper reported yesterday that Dongwon Group will join a South Korean private-equity fund to buy StarKist's assets and debts for $300 million.
San Francisco-based Del Monte said in May it may sell StarKist. It was this past month that Del Monte, which originally came to Pittsburgh in 2002 when it acquired four divisions from H.J. Heinz Co. for $2.5 billion, is relocating about 100 marketing and related positions from its 500-person operation on the North Shore
The Heinz transaction included StarKist, pet foods, baby foods and unbranded soups. The deal included Heinz's North Side manufacturing facilities. In 2006, Del Monte sold the North Side plant, baby food and unbranded soup units to TreeHouse Foods Inc., of Westchester , Ill.
Positions moving west include the last vestiges of Del Monte's pet food and StarKist tuna operations, leaving in the Del Monte Center primarily back-office jobs the company said are important to its operations.
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