Del Monte Selling Hawaiian Punch to Proctor & Gamble

Proctor & Gamble Co. has agreed to buy Del Monte Corp.’s Hawaiian Punch beverage business for $150 million in cash, company officials announced today.

San Francisco-based Del Monte’s decision to sell the business represents an ongoing strategy to divest some operations while focusing on its core businesses such as canned fruits, vegetables and tomato products.

The Hawaiian Punch business consists of a broad range of low-juice fruit beverages, and a bottler segment that includes carbonated beverages competing in the low-juice soft drink category.

The sale to the Cincinnati-based consumer products giant includes two production facilities in Atlanta and South Brunswick, N.J.

Del Monte’s processed foods businesses were bought for $1.47 billion in cash earlier this month by management and an investor group led by Merrill Lynch and Co. from RJR Nabisco Inc.