Monsanto, which had said last year it was looking for a buyer for the unit as part of a restructuring plan aimed at reducing debt, said it signed a definitive agreement with Tabletop Acquisition Corp, whose institutional investors include Pegasus Capital Advisors and MSD Capital.

Monsanto said proceeds from the sale of the sweetener business would be used to pay down debt and for other corporate purposes. All employees of the sweetener unit will be offered jobs with the new owners, Monsanto said.

St. Louis-based Monsanto, which agreed in December to a merger with US-Swedish drug group Pharmacia & Upjohn, incurred billions of dollars in debt after it acquired several seed companies in recent years. The purchases catapulted Monsanto into the number two spot in the US seed industry, but left it saddled with debt.

"As we stated last year, the tabletop sweetener business, as well as the sweetener ingredients and biogums businesses, are excellent revenue-generating businesses that are not in line with Monsanto's strategic direction," Monsanto's chief financial officer, Gary Crittenden, said in a statement.