Mizkan Group has agreed to buy Unilever's Ragu and Bertolli pasta sauce brands for $2.15 billion, continuing a trend for Japanese consumer goods companies diversifying through Western assets.

The all-cash deal, which values the sauce business at 3.6 times its annual sales, boosts the Japanese condiments maker's presence in North America's grocery aisles as declining birth rates and an aging society stifle growth at home.

The companies announced the deal on Thursday after Reuters reported late on Wednesday that the parties were in advanced talks, nearly a month after Unilever said it was weighing options for the sauces business and for its struggling Slim-Fast brand.

The sale of those operations, plus the recent disposals of Skippy peanut butter and Wishbone salad dressings, will complete the restructuring of Unilever's North American portfolio, the company said, as the group sharpens its focus on its most profitable products.

Unilever, which still owns food brands such as Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Knorr soups and Hellman's mayonnaise, also has margarine and spreads brands in its portfolio, including Flora and Becel. These, however, have been hurt by a shift in consumer tastes away from chemical ingredients, leading some analysts to suggest that they, too, could be sold.

PERISHABLE ASSETS?

Deutsche Bank analyst Harold Thompson said he expects Unilever to continue to make modest food disposals, though he did not name specific brands.

"The key is for the dilution of this disposal strategy to be offset by the enhancement of acquisitions in (home and personal care) markets for it to be a success over the long term," Thompson said.

Unilever has been vocal about its desire to focus more on personal care brands, which enjoy higher margins and growth in emerging markets.

"Food is in the doldrums in mature markets," one consumer analyst said.

Thursday's deal also marks another step in the simplification of Unilever, with the company created by the 1929 merger of English soap company Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine company Margarine Unie saying this week that it was buying out the rights of its co-founder's family trusts.