Pinnacle Foods, Inc. is a packaged foods company, headquartered in Parsippany,
New Jersey, that specializes in the shelf stable and frozen food categories.
The company was founded in 1998 as Vlasic Foods International, acquiring
the Swanson TV dinners, Open Pit and Vlasic Pickles brands from the Campbell
Soup Company. In March 2004, it acquired Aurora Foods, based in St. Louis,
Missouri. In 2009, Pinnacle Foods acquired Birds Eye Foods, Inc.
History Aurora Foods was founded by Ian Wilson,
a former executive with Coca-Cola and Dole, in 1995. Wilson used the company
to purchase the Van de Kamp seafood brand from Pillsbury and several other
brands as the years progressed. These brands were in many cases market
leaders, but the parent companies no longer considered them a part of their
core marketing strategy, and refused to spend any more money on new marketing
and development. In 2001, Wilson and other Aurora
executives pleaded guilty to securities fraud for misrepresenting the company's
financial statements. Wilson was sentenced to 33 months in prison and was
fined US$1 million. In 2000, Jim Smith, a former executive
with ConAgra, was named CEO and was charged with restoring Aurora Foods to
health. He remained until 2002, which set events in motion leading to Aurora's
acquisition. After the 2004 merger with Pinnacle Foods, Pinnacle closed the St.
Louis offices, moving its operation to Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
In 2007, Pinnacle Foods was acquired by the Blackstone Group, a private equity
firm based in New York City, for $2.16 billion.
In 2009, the Swanson brand was discontinued in the U.S., but is still
in use in Canada. In 2009, Pinnacle Foods acquired Birds Eye Foods, Inc.
adding a mix of frozen and specialty brands to its portfolio.
In 2013, Pinnacle Foods' Parsippany office was named Inc. Magazine's World's
Coolest Office. In 2013, Pinnacle Foods had its IPO on
the New York Stock Exchange, raising approximately $580 million for its
owners, the private equity Blackstone Group. Shares began trading under the
ticker symbol PF on 4 April 2013 at the upper range of its offering, $20 per
share, thereby valuing Pinnacle Foods with a market capitalization of $2.3
billion. Pinnacle Foods is a Top 1000 Company
ranked on Fortune Magazine's 2011 Top 1000 companies list.
In May 2014, Hillshire Brands announced it was buying Pinnacle Foods for $4.23
billion in a cash and stock deal. Hillshire Brands portfolio includes
Jimmy Dean, Ball Park, and Sara Lee among many others.
On June 30, 2014, it was announced that Pinnacle Foods had scrapped its sale to
Hillshire Brands, which would allow Hillshire to be acquired by Tyson Foods.
Pinnacle will receive a $163 million payment as part of the breakup from
Hillshire, and Pinnacle will also receive an expected $25 million in
one-time costs connected to the scotched sale.
In November 2014, Pinnacle Foods announced it would acquire the
plant-based protein food maker Garden Protein International Inc for a fee of
$154 million. Brands
Armour Aunt Jemima Frozen Breakfast frozen
breakfast foods Birds Eye
C&W Comstock-Wilderness
Husman's Nalley
Snyder of Berlin Voila!
Celeste Duncan Hines
Hungry-Man frozen TV dinners Lender's Bagels
Log Cabin Syrup Mrs. Butterworth's
Mrs. Paul's Open Pit barbecue sauce
Swanson frozen TV dinners Tim's Cascade Snacks
Van de Kamp's Vlasic
Wish-Bone References
External links Official website