The 130 employees at Lawrence’s Heinz Pet Food production plant, 727 N. Iowa, will be working for Del Monte Foods Co. by early next year, under a deal announced Thursday.

The transaction  which includes all of Heinz’s pet food, canned tuna, soup and baby formula business  is not expected to result in any job losses for the Lawrence plant or a similar production plant Heinz operates in Topeka, which employs 280.

“This isn’t a plant consolidation story at all,” said Brandy Bergman, a spokeswoman with Del Monte. “We’re not cutting jobs with this. We’re very excited about the brands we are receiving from Heinz.

“These will be core brands for Del Monte. We plan on putting a significant amount of money into these brands and really growing them.”

The stock deal, valued at $1.83 billion, creates a new Del Monte company that will be majority owned by Heinz shareholders. It makes Heinz a slimmer company, slicing $1.8 billion off its $9.4 billion annual sales, and enables it to focus on more profitable products like its trademark ketchup and fast-growing items like Boston Market frozen meals.

“We wanted to create a more nimble, faster-moving company that is better able to grow,” said Heinz spokeswoman Debbie Foster. “We are going after higher earnings growth.”

The Lawrence plant, which was owned by Quaker Oats until about six years ago, is the lead manufacturer of Kibbles ‘n Bits dog food. Other brands that Heinz will merge with Del Monte include StarKist tuna, 9-Lives cat food, Nature’s Goodness baby food and College Inn broths.

Heinz has listed the brands as some of its slowest growing.

Del Monte, the country’s largest canned fruit and vegetable company, believes it can use its brand-building expertise to increase sales of the products that are being shed by Heinz.

“We understand how to do retail very well,” Bergman said. “These products are lower-margin businesses for Heinz, but they are higher-margin businesses for us compared to our other products. We’re going to invest a lot of money into marketing and product quality.”

San Francisco-based Del Monte does not own any other pet food brands, which means the Lawrence facility should be a major part of the company’s pet food production, Bergman said.

Foster said the Lawrence plant was well-regarded by Heinz and was the company’s “Center of Excellence” for dry pet food production.

Lawrence employees began hearing of the deal Thursday morning, according to a worker at the plant who declined to give his name.

“It was kind of a surprise to all of us, but it sounds like it will be a good deal,” the man said. “No job losses is the way we understand it.”

Managers at the plant did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Heinz said its shareholders will receive about 0.45 shares of the new Del Monte for every Heinz share, which will give them control of about 74.5 percent of Del Monte. Del Monte shareholders will get the remaining 25.5 percent stake.

Heinz shares fell about 5 percent, or $2.05 per share, to close at $39.55 on the New York Stock Exchange. Del Monte shares closed up about 8.4 percent, or 90 cents, at $11.65 per share.