Conagra Brands (NYSE: CAG) sells Van de Kamp’s, Mrs. Paul’s to High Liner Foods for $55m as frozen food strategy shifts

Why Did Conagra Brands Sell Its Frozen Seafood Brands to High Liner Foods?

Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CAG) has announced a definitive agreement to sell its Van de Kamp’s® and Mrs. Paul’s® frozen seafood brands to High Liner Foods for $55 million in cash. The transaction, disclosed on June 6, 2025, marks another chapter in the company’s ongoing portfolio transformation—one that aims to concentrate investment and innovation in higher-margin frozen food categories.

The deal includes the full transfer of brand rights and existing inventory but does not involve manufacturing facilities or personnel. While the two seafood brands contributed approximately $75 million in net sales during Conagra’s fiscal year 2024, they have long operated as standalone entities within the company’s broader ecosystem.

According to CEO Sean Connolly, the divestiture reflects a disciplined focus on streamlining the business to prioritize segments where Conagra can “drive growth and innovation at scale.” This approach mirrors wider trends in the packaged foods sector, where legacy conglomerates are pruning slower-growing assets to double down on core brand strengths.

What Do Van de Kamp’s and Mrs. Paul’s Represent in the Frozen Food Industry?

Van de Kamp’s and Mrs. Paul’s are among the oldest and most recognized names in U.S. frozen seafood. Offering breaded and battered items like fish sticks, sandwich fillets, and family meals, they’ve maintained a steady customer base across middle-income households for decades.

Despite their nostalgic value and brand recognition, their relevance has dimmed in recent years amid growing consumer interest in premium seafood, sustainability, and health-forward eating. Industry data from NielsenIQ indicates that frozen seafood volumes contracted by roughly 3% year-over-year in 2024, while fresh and ready-to-eat seafood categories grew.

For Conagra, these brands added limited strategic value. They required distinct logistics, marketing, and sourcing, creating inefficiencies in a portfolio otherwise optimized for shared infrastructure. For High Liner Foods, however—a seafood-focused Canadian firm with significant processing scale and U.S. ambitions—the acquisition adds high-awareness assets that can be more efficiently leveraged.

How Does This Deal Align With Conagra’s Strategic Priorities?

Since its $10.9 billion acquisition of Pinnacle Foods in 2018, Conagra has been reshaping its portfolio around modern consumer preferences and operational synergies. That acquisition brought brands like Birds Eye®, Earth Balance®, and Gardein® into the fold, all of which now anchor its plant-forward and convenience meal strategy.

The sale of Van de Kamp’s and Mrs. Paul’s fits squarely within this strategic direction. It allows the company to reallocate resources toward categories with better margin profiles and more consistent consumer demand, particularly in frozen meals and snacks. These include Healthy Choice®, Slim Jim®, and Marie Callender’s®—brands where Conagra continues to introduce new SKUs, nutritional upgrades, and targeted marketing.

The $55 million sale represents a 0.73x revenue multiple—below typical sector valuations but reflective of the brands’ growth limitations and exclusion of physical assets.

Will Conagra Stock Be Affected by the Seafood Brand Sale?

Investor sentiment following the deal has been largely neutral, reflecting the transaction’s modest scale and strategic logic. Conagra forecasts a minimal impact to its bottom line—a ($0.01) reduction in adjusted earnings per share for FY2026.

Analysts note that the deal doesn’t dramatically move the needle for Conagra stock (NYSE: CAG) in the short term, but it sends an encouraging signal to long-term shareholders about the company’s continued focus on portfolio discipline and capital allocation. This is particularly relevant as input cost volatility and interest rate pressures remain elevated across the food and beverage sector.

Is Conagra Brands Stock a Buy After This Deal?

While the transaction is unlikely to spark a direct stock surge, it strengthens the investment case for Conagra over the medium term. The company continues to optimize its cost base, exit low-margin categories, and reinvest in high-return initiatives. Its frozen food franchise—one of the largest in the U.S.—remains well-positioned for steady revenue growth and margin recovery as inflation normalizes.

Conagra’s updated guidance implies minimal near-term disruption but meaningful long-term simplification.

For institutional investors and ETFs holding Conagra, the sale improves operational clarity and reinforces management’s commitment to debt reduction—a positive development as the company targets a sub-3.5x net leverage ratio by FY2026.

How Are Analysts Reacting to the Conagra–High Liner Deal?

Analysts covering the consumer packaged goods (CPG) sector have framed the sale as another small but significant signal of strategic execution. The brands’ revenue contribution—roughly 0.6% of total FY2024 net sales—was not material, but their removal eliminates organizational drag.

The absence of facilities and workforce in the transaction simplifies integration for High Liner and speeds up execution for Conagra. The seafood category also tends to carry commodity volatility risk (e.g., fluctuations in whitefish prices), which Conagra can now avoid.

Major asset managers such as Vanguard and BlackRock, both large holders of Conagra stock, are expected to maintain their positions, with some potential rotation from active funds seeking more concentrated CPG plays.

What Will High Liner Foods Gain From This Acquisition?

For High Liner Foods, the acquisition presents an immediate foothold into the U.S. retail market with brands already stocked in national grocery chains. Unlike Conagra, High Liner is entirely focused on seafood and maintains a vertically integrated supply chain capable of better absorbing the overhead costs tied to frozen fish operations.

This strategic bolt-on deal allows High Liner to boost U.S. brand recognition, consolidate distribution, and scale SKU development under two widely known banners. Analysts expect High Liner to launch refreshed packaging, recipes, or even co-branded product extensions in the next 12–18 months to maximize ROI.

What’s Next for Conagra and the Broader Packaged Food Sector?

The transaction is part of a broader wave in the packaged food industry, where large firms are narrowing focus to compete on fewer, stronger platforms. Other major players, such as Unilever and Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ: KHC), have also shed commoditized or underperforming brands in recent years, freeing up capital for innovation, marketing, and category leadership.

Conagra is expected to continue this realignment. Analysts believe that additional divestitures may follow, particularly in shelf-stable or private label categories. Meanwhile, the frozen portfolio remains the company’s engine for growth, supported by elevated post-pandemic demand for convenience foods.

This trend is reflected in Conagra’s latest innovation cycles, including protein-rich Healthy Choice bowls, Slim Jim digital-first campaigns, and Birds Eye blends targeted at wellness-conscious consumers. By reducing distractions and debt, Conagra gains flexibility to act on market opportunities or even pursue selective acquisitions in adjacent spaces like plant-based meals or ready-to-eat snacks.

Final Word: Conagra Clears the Deck to Focus on What’s Working

With the sale of Van de Kamp’s and Mrs. Paul’s to High Liner Foods, Conagra Brands (NYSE: CAG) continues to reshape itself into a leaner, more focused frozen food powerhouse. While the $55 million transaction may seem minor in isolation, its strategic impact is clear: exit complexity, reduce debt, and channel investment into categories with higher returns.

In a competitive, cost-sensitive industry, that clarity of direction may prove more valuable than any single quarter’s EPS beat.