Sunny Delight Dips into Bottled Water

Sunny Delight beverages will enter the bottled water business by purchasing Fruit20 Water from Kraft Foods Inc., the companies said.

Sunny Delight will pay Kraft an undisclosed price for Fruit20 and the company’s Veryfine juice brands. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year and includes a Veryfine plant in Littleton, MA.

The mainstay of the Fruit20 product line is a fruit-flavored water free of calories, sugars or carbohydrates. A newer product launched early this year is Fruit20 vitamin water, sold in four varieties named Immunity, Energy, Hydration and Relaxation.

This marks the first acquisition by Sunny Delight since it was spun off by Procter & Gamble in 2004 and acquired by the J.W. Childs equity firm.