Pinnacle Foods Group buys Birds Eye Foods for $1.3 billion

Pinnacle Foods Group has purchased frozen-foods maker Birds Eye Foods for $1.3 billion in a deal that closed last week. The sale gives Pinnacle the largest market share in frozen-vegetable sales at 26.5%.

Rochester, N.Y.-based Birds Eye employs 1,700 nationwide.

The Birds Eye brand accounts for 26.5 percent of the nation's frozen vegetable sales, making it the top brand by market share.

Pinnacle Foods, based in Cherry Hills, N.J., is a subsidiary of The Blackstone Group, a New York City investment firm. Blackstone is a big player in the processed food world. Through Pinnacle Foods, it owns companies that manufacture and distribute products ranging from Duncan Hines baking mixes and Vlasic pickles to Hungry-Man frozen dinners and Lender's bagels.

New York City-based private equity firm Vestar Capital Partners had owned 55 percent of Birds Eye. Pro-Fac Cooperative, a Perinton, N.Y.-based agricultural cooperative, said Wednesday it had received a $238 million payment for its 40 percent stake in Birds Eye. Birds Eye executives owned a 5 percent share.