P.M. BRIEFING : Whitman to Buy Van de Kamp’s

Whitman Corp. announced today that it has agreed to buy Van de Kamp’s Frozen Seafoods from Pillsbury Co. for $140 million.

Whitman officials said the company’s Pet Inc. subsidiary will integrate Van de Kamp’s into its current frozen foods business. The transaction is expected to close in mid-September.

“This acquisition is one more step toward Pet’s goal of being a premier marketer of specialty foods,” said Karl Bays, chairman and chief executive officer of Whitman.

Van de Kamp’s, based in Erie, Pa., is a leading producer of frozen seafood products, with 300 employees and annual sales of over $100 million. Its current owner, Pillsbury, is a subsidiary of Britain’s Grand Metropolitan PLC.

Chicago-based Whitman is a consumer goods and services company whose operating companies are Pet, Pepsi-Cola General Bottlers, Hussmann Corp. and Midas International.