PepsiCo Inc. plans to sell the Tropicana orange juice brand to a private-equity firm, parting ways with one of its most famous holdings in a bid to boost growth.
The snacks-and-beverage giant will sell Tropicana, Naked and other juice brands in North America to private-equity firm PAI Partners, according to people familiar with the matter. PepsiCo will receive pretax proceeds of $3.3 billion and retain a 39% stake in the new joint venture in a deal valued at roughly $4.5 billion, the people said.
Over the past several years, fruit-juice sales have been under pressure as consumers reduce their sugar consumption. PepsiCo said last year that demand for its orange juice rose during the pandemic, as more people made breakfast at home, but overall juice sales continued to decline at the company and across the industry.
Consumption of fruit juices and fruit drinks fell 19% to 2.8 billion gallons in 2020 from 3.4 billion in 2011, according to Beverage Marketing Corp. Over the same period, PepsiCo’s sales of those products fell 36% to 436 million gallons.
The company and rivals including Coca-Cola Co. have been working for years to shift their beverage sales away from sugary drinks and toward lower-calorie offerings such as diet soda, flavored seltzer and bottled water.
