Church & Dwight announced Dec. 3 that it has signed an agreement to acquire the assets of Varied Industries Corp. (VI-COR), a Mason City, Iowa-based manufacturer and seller of feed ingredients for dairy cows, beef cattle, poultry and other livestock.

The VI-COR products are yeast-based feed ingredients for improving livestock digestive health and performance that will complement Church & Dwight's existing dairy nutrition business, the announcement said.

According to Church & Dwight, this agreement meets its acquisition criteria in that the respective brands are leaders in their categories, the business has growth potential and the transaction is expected to be gross margin accretive to the company. Annual sales of these brands are approximately $25 million.

The acquisition was financed with debt and is expected to be earnings neutral in 2014 and slightly accretive to earnings per share in 2015, the announcement said.

Church & Dwight Co. Inc. manufactures and markets a wide range of personal care, household and specialty products under the ARM & HAMMER brand name and other well-known trademarks.