PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Pinnacle Foods has announced the price of its 29 million shares in its initial public offering of common stock will be $20 per share.

The shares are to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on March 28 under the symbol “PF,” and the offering is expected to close on April 3. The company has given underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 4,350,000 shares at the i.p.o. offering price.

The company will receive proceeds of about $545.2 million after underwriting discounts and commissions. The profits will go to reduce debt. The company said it plans to use a portion of that to redeem $46 million in aggregate principal amount of the 9.25% senior notes due 2015 at a redemption price of 100%.

The remaining net proceeds and cash on hand will be used to repay $119 million of the senior secured term loan B facility maturing in April 2014 of Pinnacle Foods Finance L.L.C., the company said.

Headquartered in Parsippany, Pinnacle Foods is a leader in the shelf stable and frozen foods segments. The company’s brands include Armour, Aunt Jemima, Birds Eye, Duncan Hines, Hungry Man, Lender’s, Log Cabin, Van de Kamp’s and Vlasic.