ConAgra sells meat alternatives brand Lightlife to Brynwood Partners

16-Sep-2013 - Last updated on 17-Sep-2013 at 14:39 GMT

ConAgra acquired Lightlife in 2000, and is now selling it to a private equity firm

ConAgra Foods has sold Lightlife - a manufacturer of frozen and refrigerated meat alternatives it acquired in summer 2000 - to private equity firm Brynwood Partners for an undisclosed sum.

Brynwood - which is acquiring the Lightlife brand and manufacturing plant in Turners Falls, MA, as part of the deal - already owns several food companies including Back to Nature Foods Company, DeMet’s Candy Co, and the Pearson Candy Co.

As part of the agreement with ConAgra, which did not say why it was selling Lightlife, Brynwood is bringing in Roy Lubetkin as President and CEO and Michael Morin as CFO of a new company called Lightlife Foods Inc based in Boston.

Lubetkin was previously CEO - and Morin was CFO - of Sun Country Foods, a Brynwood company that was divested in 2012.

Chia Collins and Michael Cohen founded Lightlife in Greenfield, MA, in 1979, and moved it to Turners Falls in 1998.

The firm, which employs around 90 staff, is best-known for its meat-free hotdogs, hamburgers, crumbles and deli slices.

Click here to read more about the meat-free market from Mintel.

Click here to read our interview with Yves Potvin, founder of Garden Protein (Gardein).