NEW YORK — International Flavors & Fragrances has agreed to divest its fruit preparation business to Frulact, a company based in Portugal that specializes in fruit preparations for the food and beverage industry.

IFF’s fruit preparation business produces fruit, vegetable, herb, meat and fish preparation systems for the food, beverage and pet food markets. The business contributed about $70 million to sales in 2020. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter. Full financial terms were not disclosed.

“This is our first step in terms of our portfolio optimization strategy,” said Andreas Fibig, chief executive officer of IFF, in a May 11 earnings call to discuss first-quarter results. “So I expect more news as we progress through 2021.”

Frulact globally serves a range of dairy, beverage and ice cream producers from production bases in Portugal, France, Canada, Morocco and South Africa. Ardian, a private investment firm, owns Frulact.

New York-based IFF sustained a loss of $42 million in the quarter ended March 31, which compared to net income of $124 million, or $1.16 per share on the common stock, in the previous year’s first quarter. IFF in this year’s first quarter suffered a loss of $86 million on deferred income taxes and a loss of $208 million on other liabilities.

Net sales in the quarter rose 83% to $2.47 billion from $1.35 billion, driven primarily by the incremental sales related to the merger with DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences, which was completed in the quarter.

IFF’s stock on the New York Stock Exchange closed at $138.68 per share on May 11, which was down 2.8% from a close of $142.71 per share on May 10.