The J.M. Smucker Company announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire the Hostess Brand. The acquisition expands the company’s portfolio and accelerates its focus on convenient consumer occasions.
The sale includes the Hostess Brands sweet baked goods brands and the Voortman cookie brand. In addition to the food brands, the transaction includes manufacturing facilities and a distribution facility in Edgerton, Kansas.
J.M. Smucker Company purchased Hostess Brands for $34.25 per share in a cash and stock transaction, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $5.6 billion, which includes approximately $900 million in debt.
"We are excited to announce the acquisition of Hostess Brands, which represents a compelling expansion of our family of brands and a unique opportunity to accelerate our focus on delighting consumers with convenient solutions across different meal and snacking occasions,” said Mark Smucker, chair of the board, president and chief executive officer.
"With this acquisition, we are adding an iconic sweet snacking platform; enhancing our ability to deliver brands consumers love and convenient solutions they desire; and leveraging the attributes Hostess Brands offers, including its strong convenience store distribution and leading innovation pipeline, combined with our strong commercial organization and consistent retail execution across channels to drive continued growth,” said Smucker.
Reuters reports that the deal follows numerous other deals in the U.S. packaged food industry, including Campbell Soup’s purchasing Rao’s sauce maker Sovos Brands for $2.7 billion and Unilever buying premium frozen yogurt brand Yasso.
The deals come as the U.S. packaged food companies look to revamp their brand portfolios as pandemic-era fortunes fade and price hikes benefits begin to taper as well, states Reuters. “It has been a big theme, and we expect that to continue in the back half of 2023 and into early 2024,” Michael Milani, executive managing director and principal at advisory firm Baker Tilly.