(Reuters) – Snack food maker Snyder’s-Lance Inc (LNCE.O) said it will buy Kettle potato chips maker Diamond Foods Inc (DMND.O) for about $1.27 billion.
Diamond Foods said its stockholders will get 0.775 Snyder’s-Lance shares and $12.50 in cash for each share they hold.
The $40.46 per-share cash-and-stock offer represents a 16 percent premium to Diamond’s Tuesday closing.
The deal is valued at $1.91 billion including $640 million of Diamond Foods’ debt.
Kellogg Co (K.N) was said to be in late-stage talks to buy Diamond Foods for more than $1.5 billion, the New York Post reported last week.
Oaktree Capital, Diamond’s largest stockholder, has agreed to vote in favor of the transaction, Snyder’s-Lance said.
Snyder’s-Lance said the deal, which is expected to immediately add to its earnings, would expand its presence in the natural foods category.
Morgan Stanley & Co LLC is financial adviser to Snyder’s-Lance and Troutman Sanders is the company’s legal adviser.
Credit Suisse is financial adviser to Diamond and Fenwick & West is the company’s legal adviser.
(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan and Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
Crown’s European Tinplate business is one of the largest manufacturers of steel and aluminium food packaging in Europe, operating 44 manufacturing facilities in 17 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The facility, which marks the first in ASEAN and second in Asia, will cater to the rising local demand for plant-based food, as well as exports. It joins the company’s plant-based food facility in Tianjin, China.
The newly-formed company seeks to disrupt the nutritional marketplace by creating brands that target various health conditions.
