NABISCO BUYING PASTA BUSINESS
By Adnews Staff
Nabisco Ltd. is buying the Primo brand from Pillsbury Canada of Vancouver. The deal includes the Primo trademark which covers pasta, sauces, olive oil and other Italian cooking items, plus pasta manufacturing and tomato processing facilities in Ontario. The move comes less than a year after Pillsbury's parent Grand Metropolitan bought U.S.-based Pet Inc., which owned Primo. Advertising for Nabisco in Canada is done by Harrod & Mirlin of Toronto and Leo Burnett Company of Toronto creates ads for Pillsbury. Nabisco officials were unavailable to comment on how advertising will work for Primo once it is in Nabisco's hands. Primo is only marketed in Canada. The agreement does not include Pillsbury's Old El Paso Mexican food products and Underwood meat spreads businesses.