Unilever, seeking a buyer for its Skippy peanut butter brand, has attracted interest from potential suitors such as ConAgra Foods and B&G Foods, said three people familiar with the matter.
The business may fetch as much as $500 million, said two of the people, who asked not to be named because the process is private.
The consumer-products company, which had sought preliminary offers by Oct. 25, aims to complete a deal by year-end, two of the people said. “The future of Unilever is not peanut butter, it’s not Skippy,” Andrew Wood, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Unilever is weighing the sale as it sharpens its focus on health and beauty banners, such as Tresemme hair products and Dove moisturizer.
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