Schwan's Co. sold to South Korean company for $1.8 billion

A South Korean firm is buying a majority stake in Minnesota-based Schwan's Company.

The Schwan family will retain a 20 percent stake in the company, and keep all of Schwan's Home Service, the home delivery business that Marvin Schwan launched in Marshall, Minn., in 1952.

Seoul-based CJ CheilJedang will pay about $1.8 billion for its stake.

Schwan's runs a nationwide frozen food manufacturing and marketing company, focusing on pizza, pie and Asian appetizers with brands like Red Baron Pizza and Mrs. Smith's desserts. CJCJ said in a statement that it will add Korean items to the product line.

Schwan's headquarters will remain in Marshall and Bloomington and the current senior management team will stay on. The company employs about 12,000 people, but it did not say anything about future plans for its workforce in the sale announcement.

The deal is expected to close in the next two to three months.

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