date:May 23, 2014
Mizkan Group has agreed to buy Unilever's (UNc.AS)(ULVR.L) Ragu and Bertolli pasta sauce brands for $2.15 billion, continuing a trend for Japanese consumer goods companies diversifying through Western assets.
The all-cash deal, which values the sauce business at 3.6 times its annual sales, boosts the Japanese condiments maker's presence in North America's grocery aisles as declining birth rates and an ageing society stifle growth at home.
The companies announced the deal on Thursday after Reut