RJR Nabisco Inc. announced Friday it is selling its Baby Ruth, Butterfinger and Pearson candy businesses to Nestle Foods Corp. for $370 million.
The sale leaves RJR Nabisco about $230 million from its goal of $5.5 billion in asset sales for raising cash to reduce the company's debt load following its $24.53 billion leveraged buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.The deal with Nestle, a division of Switzerland's giant Nestle SA, includes a manufacturing plant in Franklin Park, Ill.
The company began its asset sales program earlier this year after Kohlberg Kravis completed its acquisition of the food and tobacco giant. Kohlberg Kravis agreed to sell $5.5 billion in assets in return for financing the deal, the most expensive corporate takeover ever.