Food giant Nestle announced on Thursday that it is going to sell its Jenny Craig diet businesses in North America and Oceania. The business would be bought by private equity firm North Castle Partners, according to a report by Reuters. Although the sum of the deal is still undisclosed, it was estimated to be less than USD600 million. This was the amount that Nestle paid for Jenny Craig in 2006, The Wall Street Journal said. 

Nestle, the world's largest group of food companies, said its Jenny Craig business in France would not included in the acquisition deal. In a statement, the food group said the new owners of its weight management businesses would be taking over the management. It would also be offering jobs to the North America and Oceania staff, Reuters said.

The food company announced last month its intention to sell the diet business. It stated that it wanted to divest businesses that were not hitting targets, said the report.