McCormick & Co. wins conditional approval of Lawry's acquisition

McCormick & Co. wins conditional approval of Lawry's acquisition

McCormick & Co. wins conditional approval of Lawry's acquisition

McCormick & Co. Inc. said Wednesday it expects to wrap up its delayed $604 million acquisition of well-known spice maker Lawry's in the next several days.

The Federal Trade Commission approved McCormick's acquisition of Lawry's, a subsidiary of Dutch giant Unilever N.V. (NYSE: UN).

As part of the agreement with the FTC, Sparks-based spice giant McCormick (NYSE: MKC) will sell its Season-All business line to Chicago's Morton International, better known as Morton Salt Group, for $15 million in cash. That deal is also expected to close in the next several days.

The Season-All business has annual sales of around $18 million.

McCormick said in a news release it would provide additional financial details of the Lawry's transaction as well as growth plans for the product line following the completion of the acquisition.

McCormick said in November it could cut costs by using its Hunt Valley manufacturing facilities to produce Lawry's seasonings. Some of those savings will be reinvested to boost sales growth through product innovation and more focused marketing, McCormick said at the time.

In November, McCormick also said it would finance the deal through cash from operations, bank lines of credit and commercial paper borrowings, which companies use for short-term credit needs.