treehouse foods inc said it has reached a deal to sell a significant portion of its mealpreparation business to investindustrial vii lp also called investindustrial for about 950 million the deal expected to close in the fourth quarter of the year will include the sale of the pasta pourable and spoonable dressing preserves red sauces syrup dry blends and baking dry dinners pie filling pita chips and other sauces categories of the companys mealprep business the company said the divested business is expected to generate sales this year of about 16 billion the company said this transaction enables us to simplify our business and thus improve operational execution further enhancing our ability to accelerate growth through category depth in our higher growth and margin snacking and beverages business treehouse chairman ann sardini said shares of treehouse fell almost 3 in the premarket to 4580 a share write to will feuer at willfeuerwsjcom