US-based food company Hain Celestial has signed a definitive agreement to sell all of the equity interest in its Hain Pure Protein business to Aterian Investment Partners III in a deal valued at $80m, subject to adjustments.

The Hain Pure Protein business includes the FreeBird and Empire Kosher businesses.

Hain Celestial president and CEO Mark Schiller said: “We are pleased to have entered into an agreement for the sale of our remaining Hain Pure Protein businesses.

“This divestiture is another step forward in simplifying our organisation aligned with our transformational strategic plan as we aggressively pursue margin enhancing initiatives to fuel long-term sustainable growth and profitability.

“We expect the sale of Hain Pure Protein to also help improve our balance sheet as we generate cash from the sale with which we plan to use in part to pay down debt. We believe these non-core brands will generate better results under the ownership of an organization that is focused on the protein category.”

Completion of the transaction is expected to take place before 30 June.

For this deal, Centerview Partners served as financial adviser to Hain Celestial.

Hain Celestial is an organic and natural products company, which has operations in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.