M&A

Flowers Foods’ management team sees significant growth potential for Simple Mills following its $795 million acquisition, as executives outlined plans to broaden the snack and baking mix brand’s distribution, accelerate new product development and amplify brand awareness during a conference call today. The new parent company plans to handle the business with a “fairly light touch, particularly in the early days” to preserve its entrepreneurial spirit.”

Flowers Foods, Inc. announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Simple Mills from company management, Vestar Capital Partners and initial angel investors for $795 million in a cash transaction. The deal is subject to customary regulatory approval and closing conditions and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025…. Read more »

Global private equity firm Advent International announced today it has agreed to acquire condiment, seasoning, and spice platform Sauer Brands from Falfurrias Capital Partners for an undisclosed sum.

At Nosh Live Winter 2024, Rodney Clark, co-founder and managing partner at Aspect Consumer Partners, walked attendees through the past quarter-century of financing cycles – specifically, the dot-com bust (1999-2001), the great financial crisis (2007-2009), and the pandemic (2020-2022) – drawing on his perspective as one of the first investment bankers to understand the fundamental changes taking place within the food and beverage industry as consumers became interested in health and sustainability.

Over the past year-plus, we’ve written repeatedly about the slowdown in venture funding and strategic transactions, and panelists on our stages continue to point out that they’d rather see brands with high margins and profitability.

The CPG Week podcast jumps into the latest M&A news with the failure of the Kroger-Albertsons merger, a denied proposal by Mondelēz to acquire Hershey and Lamb Weston acquisition rumors.

The Kroger Company and Albertsons Companies this week terminated the proposed $24.6 billion merger agreement that was initially announced more than two years ago, after a federal judge sided with the Federal Trade Commission suing to block the deal and Washington and Oregon state courts put permanent injunctions in place to halt the transaction.

History has repeated itself as Hershey’s controlling owner yesterday rejected a preliminary takeover offer from candy and snacking rival Mondelēz International, according to a Bloomberg News report citing people familiar with the matter.The Hershey Trust – which holds approximately 80% of the voting power at the company – labeled the offer as too low.

The proposed $24.6 billion Kroger-Albertsons megamerger was temporarily blocked today by a federal judge, who ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) suing to block the deal.

Mondelēz International is exploring a possible acquisition of candy and snack rival Hershey, according to a Bloomberg News report citing private sources familiar with the matter. The combination would bring together such brands as Oreo, Ritz, Reese’s and SkinnyPop and generate annual sales of almost $50 billion.