Food and beverage company Nestlé AG said Monday that it plans to swallow the Jenny Craig diet business in a $600-million US deal.

Switzerland-based Nestlé is buying Jenny Craig of Carlsbad, Calif., from two private equity companies. The sale is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

The headquarters of Swiss food and beverage giant Nestle.
(Keystone/Alessandro della Valle/Associated Press)

With more than 3,000 employees, Jenny Craig has more than 600 weight-loss centres in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The company's sales topped $400 million US over the past 12 months.

The acquisition will expand Nestlé's diet business, which already includes the Lean Cuisine line of frozen foods.

"With this strategic acquisition, the group takes another important step in its transformation process into a nutrition, health and wellness company," said Nestlé chairman and CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe.

"The rise of obesity and the resulting metabolic disorders, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, is a major public health concern, not only in the U.S.A. but also the world over," he said.