Nestlé Agrees Terms on $4.3B Sale of North American Waters Division to One Rock, Metropoulos & Co.

Nestlé has reached an agreement with private equity firm One Rock Capital and family owned investment firm Metropoulos & Co. for the sale of its Nestlé Waters North America (NWNA) division for $4.3 billion.

The deal, announced late Tuesday, includes NWNA’s complete portfolio of bottled water brands — Poland Spring, Deer Park, Ozarka, Ice Mountain, Zephyrhills and Arrowhead — as well as the Nestlé Pure Life and Nestlé Splash brands and the delivery service ReadyRefresh. Based in Stamford, Connecticut, NWNA has approximately 7,000 employees in the U.S. and over 230 in Canada, as well as 27 production facilities across the continent. The sale includes all of the company’s U.S. factories, warehouses, offices and branches

In a press release, Mark Schneider, Nestlé CEO, said the sale would enable the Swiss conglomerate to “create a more focused business around our international premium brands, local natural mineral waters and high-quality healthy hydration products” as it continues to position its global water business for long-term profitable growth.

In addition, he said, the company “will also boost our innovation and business development efforts to capture emerging consumer trends, such as functional water.”

The deal is expected to be completed in the spring, at which time Metropoulos & Co. chairman and CEO Dean Metropoulos will assume the role of Chairman and interim CEO at the company. Metropoulos is a well-known investor in the CPG space, having bought and flipped companies such as Bumble Bee Tuna and Pabst Blue Ribbon. According to Forbes, he has a reported net worth of $2.6 billion.

“I am pleased to have the opportunity to lead NWNA as it enters the next phase of evolution,” Metropoulos said in a press release. “This is an important inflection point for the business as it transitions to an independent company, and I look forward to collaborating with One Rock and NWNA’s management team to deliver unparalleled value to our customers.”

New York-based One Rock, which retains a special partnership with Japanese manufacturing conglomerate Mitsubishi, has a portfolio “comprised of companies from a spectrum of industries, including chemicals and process industries, specialty manufacturing and healthcare products, and food manufacturing and distribution,” according to its website. The group manages around $3.2 billion of committed capital across three flagship funds.

Wednesday’s announcement marks the end of a divestiture process for NWNA that began in June 2020. In a press release at the time, the company stated that its intent to shift focus towards increasing sales of its international brands such as Perrier and S. Pellegrino, as well as seeking out “strategic acquisitions” in the water category “while pledging to make its entire global water portfolio carbon neutral and replenish associated watersheds by 2025.”