California Pizza Kitchen Inc. said Tuesday that its licensing agreement for Kraft Foods Inc. to produce grocery-store versions of its gourmet pizza will shift to Nestle USA.

The Los Angeles casual dining chain said the switch results from Kraft selling its North American pizza business to Nestle for $3.7 billion to help finance a $16.5 billion bid to acquire British candy maker Cadbury PLC. Kraft has held the license for 13 years.

“We expect a smooth transition to Nestle once the sale is final,” Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax, California Pizza co-chief executives, said in a joint statement.

The Kraft-Nestle deal, which also includes the DiGiorno, Tombstone and Jack’s pizza brands, must be reviewed by regulators and is expected to close by the end of 2010.

Nestle USA, a Glendale-based division of Swiss food giant Nestle SA, said that the frozen pizza business compliments its own frozen food brands, which include the Stouffer’s, Lean Cuisine, Buitoni, Hot Pockets and Lean Pockets.

California Pizza Kitchen shares closed down 11 cents, or less than 1 percent, to $13.54 on the Nasdaq.