AUSTIN, Minn. — Hormel Foods Corp. has agreed to acquire the Skippy peanut butter business from Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based Unilever in a transaction valued at approximately $700 million.

The transaction includes manufacturing facilities in Little Rock, Ark., and Weifang, China. Domestically, the Skippy peanut butter line has 11 varieties of shelf-stable peanut butter products. Internationally, Skippy is sold in China and more than 30 other countries on five continents.

“The acquisition of the Skippy peanut butter business represents a significant opportunity for Hormel Foods,” said Jeffrey M. Ettinger, chairman of the board, president and CEO at Hormel Foods. “It allows us to grow our branded presence in the center of the store with a non-meat protein product, and it reinforces our balanced portfolio. The fast-growing international line will also strengthen our global presence and should be a useful complement to our sales strategy in China for the SPAM family of products.”

Total annual sales are expected to be about $370 million with almost $100 million of sales outside of the United States. The transaction is expected to close in early 2013, and Hormel expects it to be modestly accretive in fiscal 2013.