Food giants gobble up rivals

TWO American food heavyweights are set to swallow their snack food rivals following a multi-billion dollar deal bonanza yesterday.

US sweet maker the Hershey Company has struck a deal to buy Tyrrells parent Amplify Snack Brands for $1.6bn (£1.2bn), representing $12 per share, while Campbell Soup has agreed to acquire the maker of Kettle Chips, Snyder’s-lance, in a $4.9bn deal – or $50 per share. Amplify bought Tyrrells, which was founded in the UK in 2002 by William Chase, a farmer turned crisps and vodka entrepreneur, from Bahraini investment firm Investcorp in a £300m deal last year. It was previously owned by private equity firm Langholm Capital.

Hershey, which rebuffed a takeover attempt by Cadbury owner Mondelez last year, expects the Amplify acquisition to achieve synergies of about $20m over the next two years through cost savings, and turn it into “an innovative snacking powerhouse”.