HEINZ AGREES TO SELL ITS FROZEN FOODSERVICE BUSINESS TO MCCAIN; REORGANIZATION PROVIDES FOR GROWTH IN ORE-IDA'S RETAIL BUSINESS PITTSBURGH, March 14 /PRNewswire/Asianet -- H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE: HNZ) and McCain Foods Limited of New Brunswick, Canada today announced that Heinz's subsidiary, Ore-Ida Foods, Inc., has signed a letter agreement to sell the company's frozen foodservice foods business for a price of $500 million to McCain. "This is an important step in Heinz's Project Millennia, our reorganization and growth plan, and will free substantial amounts of capital for company expansion. It will allow us to focus our efforts on the profitable retail frozen potato business where the Ore-Ida brand is number one in the U.S. market," explained Anthony J.F. O'Reilly, Heinz chairman and chief executive officer. "Ore-Ida's foodservice operations are a good strategic fit with our North American potato processing units. And the brands complement our popular McCain line of frozen potato products," noted H. Harrison McCain, chairman of McCain Foods. The agreement provides for the sale of Ore-Ida's appetizer, pasta and potato foodservice businesses and the six Ore-Ida plants that manufacture the products. These include Ore-Ida plants located in Burley, Idaho; Plover, Rice Lake and Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin; Grand Island, Nebraska; and Clarksville, Arkansas. Foodservice brands included in the transaction are: Moore's, Delicious Golden Crisp, Kim's, Brew City, and Domani pasta. Additionally, McCain will license the Ore-Ida trademark for foodservice potatoes only. Ore-Ida will concentrate on its retail frozen businesses, which include Ore-Ida and Tater Tots brand potatoes, Rosetto frozen stuffed pasta and Bagel Bites frozen bagel topped snacks, among others. Ore-Ida's retail lines will continue to be manufactured at company factories in Bloomsburg and West Chester, Pennsylvania; Ft. Myers, Florida; Torrance, California; and Ontario, Oregon. The transaction is subject to customary due diligence, the formal approval of the Board of Directors of McCain Foods and regulatory approvals. Terms of the transaction, other than the price, were not disclosed. ABOUT HEINZ: With sales approaching $10 billion, H.J. Heinz Company is one of the world's leading food processors and purveyors of nutritional services. Its 50 affiliates operate in some 200 countries, offering more than 4,000 products. Among the company's famous brands are Heinz, StarKist, Ore-Ida, 9-Lives, Weight Watchers, Wattie's, Plasmon, Farley's, The Budget Gourmet, Earth's Best, Ken-L Ration, Kibbles 'n Bits, Orlando, Olivine, and Guloso. SOURCE H.J. Heinz Company CONTACT: Ted Smyth, VP-Corp. Affairs, 412-456-5780, or Debora S. Foster, Gen. Mgr.-Corp. Communications, 412-456-5778, both of H. J. Heinz; or Michael Mullen of Ketchum Public Relations, 412-456-5778, for H. J. Heinz; or Grant C. Jones, Manager Public Relations of Ore-Ida, 208-383-6410 H.J. Heinz Co. press releases are available through Company News On-Call by fax, 800-758-5804, ext. 402575, or at http://www.prnewswire.com (HNZ)