CHICAGO — Hillshire Brands is buying Pinnacle Foods, whose brands include Duncan Hines, Bird's Eye, Hungry Man and Aunt Jemima, in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $4.23 billion.

The deal would expand Hillshire Brands' portfolio which includes Jimmy Dean sausage, Ball Park franks and Sara Lee frozen bakery goods.

Shares of both companies rose in premarket trading on word of the deal today.

“The new Hillshire Brands will have a strengthened position in frozen foods, new opportunities in the center store for our brands and in refrigerated for Pinnacle Foods' brands,” Hillshire President and CEO Sean Connolly said.

The combined company, which is expected to have annual revenue of about $6.6 billion, will use the Hillshire Brands name and be based in Chicago. Connolly will serve as its president and CEO.

TOKYO — Nissan's quarterly profit edged up nearly 5 percent as sales grew around the world and a favorable exchange rate helped earnings.Nissan reported today that January-March profit totaled 114.9 billion yen ($1.1 billion), up from 109.7 billion yen the year before. Quarterly sales rose more than 20 percent to $31 billion.Nissan said its sales growth was outpacing the industry.The Japanese automaker is expecting continued growth for the current fiscal year that began April 1, according to CEO Carlos Ghosn.Yokohama-based Nissan forecast annual net profit of $4 billion, up 4 percent from $3.8 billion in the last fiscal year.