Kraft Heinz Completes Sale of Natural Cheese Business to an Affiliate of Groupe Lactalis
The Kraft Heinz Company has completed the sale of certain assets in its global cheese business and the license of certain trademarks to an affiliate of Groupe Lactalis for total consideration of approximately $3.3 billion. The transaction involves the divestiture of Kraft Heinz’s natural, grated, cultured and specialty cheese businesses in the U.S., its grated cheese business in Canada, and its grated, processed and natural cheese businesses outside the U.S. and Canada.
This divestiture includes the company’s global intellectual property rights to several brands, including, among others, Cracker Barrel, Breakstone’s, Knudsen, Athenos, Polly-O, and Hoffman’s, as well as the Cheez Whiz brand in the majority of countries outside the U.S. and Canada. The transaction also includes perpetual licenses for the Kraft and Velveeta brands that the company will grant to Groupe Lactalis for certain cheese products.