WESTCHESTER, ILL. — TreeHouse Foods, Inc. said it plans to offer $400 million of senior unsecured notes due 2018 in an underwritten public offering. Proceeds from the offering will be used, in part, to fund the pending acquisition of Sturm Foods, Inc., which TreeHouse expects to close in March.

The notes offering is scheduled to close concurrently with the acquisition of Manawa, Wis.-based Sturm Foods, which primarily makes hot cereals, powdered soft drink mixes and other dry mix products for the private label market.

TreeHouse said it plans to finance the remaining portion of the Sturm Foods acquisition through a draw-down on its existing credit facility as well as an underwritten public offering of common stock, pursuant to a separate prospectus supplement, following the pricing of the notes offering.