Late last night, Nestlé announced an agreement to sell its Pure Life and regional bottled water brands, as well as its ReadyRefresh beverage delivery unit, to private equity firms One Rock Capital and Metropoulos & Company for $4.3 billion. Nestlé announced the company’s intention last year to seek a buyer. Key regional bottled water brands to be divested include Poland Spring, Deer Park, Ozarka, Ice Mountain, Zephyrhills, and Arrowhead. Pure Life is sold as a national brand. The deal does not include premium brands Perrier, S.Pellegrino, and Acqua Panna. In a statement, Nestlé said the company is pursuing a premium water strategy.

STRATEGY? One now wonders what the new private equity owners intend to do with Nestlé’s bottled water brands at a time when private label, led by Niagara, is dominating the economy water shelf. Last year at retail, dollar sales for Nestlé’s still water portfolio declined -3.4% and lost 1.7 share points. Private label grew +9.3% and gained 2.4 share points. The answer could be as simple as leaning up the unit for a resale later. Metropoulos founder Dean Metropoulos has a history of shaping up and reselling formerly high-flying consumer brands. In 2010, he paid $250 million for Pabst Brewing, after the brand’s resurgence during the early 2000s as a hipster mainstay. Metropoulos sold the brand four years later for $700 million.

READYREFRESH. Home delivery company Primo Water (formerly Cott) was considered a prime candidate for Nestlé’s ReadyRefresh home and office delivery business. RBC Capital Markets Analyst Nik Modi speculated this morning that anti-trust concerns may have gotten in the way of a sale to Primo. He also speculated that Primo itself could become of interest to private equity.