Unilever to Sell Sauce Brands to Mizkan for $2.15 Billion

Unilever has said ciao to its Ragu and Bertolli pasta sauce business, agreeing to unload it to Japanese food manufacturer Mizkan Group for about $2.15 billion as the maker of Dove skin creams continues to shed food brands.

The deal transfers Ragu, the best-selling U.S. pasta sauce that helped popularize Italian food in America, into the hands of a closely held Asian company founded 210 years ago. Together, the brands have annual sales of more than $600 million, London-and Rotterdam-based Unilever said today in a statement.