Investment

In an effort to bulk up its nutrition lineup, sports performance and supplement-maker Nature’s Bounty acquired “real food-based” nutrition bar brand The Best Bar Ever last week. The purchase adds a clean-nutrition halo brand to Nature’s Bounty’s growing portfolio of sports and nutrition products.

The global confectionery leader announced today that it has agreed to acquire Skinny Pop maker Amplify Snack Brands for more than $920 million. The deal, which is expected to close in Q1, will be Hershey’s largest acquisition to date.

The big box retailer announced today that it has agreed to acquire Shipt, Inc., a leading online same-day delivery platform, for $550 million in cash. The acquisition strengthens Target’s position as a major competitor in the online grocery space.

The capital will be used to grow the company’s team beyond its current 10 employees, hiring food scientists and chefs to support a robust innovation pipeline. Although some efforts will go towards developing new flavors for its current pint line, Nicholson said an even bigger focus is to bring the brand into categories beyond pints and, potentially, beyond the freezer aisle.

Global confection leader Nestle announced this week that it has agreed to acquire Canadian vitamin maker Atrium Innovations, the parent company of functional food and supplement brand Garden of Life, for $2.3 billion in cash. The transaction is expected to close early next year.

Mexico-based Arca Continental, the parent company of Wise Snacks and the second largest Coca-Cola bottler in Latin America, announced on Monday that it is acquiring mission-driven chip producer Deep River Snacks.

Today, global confectionery and snack leader Mars Inc. announced it was acquiring a minority stake in healthy snack brand KIND. According to The New York Times, the deal values KIND at more than $4 billion and could potentially lead to KIND’s future acquisition by the global company.

The Salem, Mass.-based company announced last week that it acquired five-year-old Cocoa Santé, an all-natural line of organic hot cocoa mixes with a budding presence in grocery. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Yesterday, protein-centric brand Powerful announced the close of a $4 million round. The capital is a combination of equity investment from River Hollow Partners and asset based lending (ABL) financing through Gerber Finance. Currently the Miami, Florida-based producer of Powerful Yogurt and Powerful drinks, as well as an emerging product, high-protein Powerful Oatmeal, is in over 10,000 points of sale, including select Walmart, Target and Kroger stores.

A week after finalizing the purchase of meat alternative company Sweet Earth, Nestlé USA today announced it’s widening its coffee portfolio with the acquisition of Chameleon Cold-Brew for an undisclosed sum.