J. M. Smucker has agreed to acquire Hostess Brands for US$5.6 billion in a cash and stock deal. The transaction is expected to expand Smucker’s presence in the growing snacking and meal occasions category and enhance its growth prospects and profitability.
The deal includes Hostess Brands sweet baked goods brands – Hostess, Donettes, Twinkies, CupCakes, DingDongs, Zingers, CoffeeCakes, HoHos, Mini Muffins and Fruit Pies as well as the Voortman cookie brand.
J.M. Smucker will also acquire Hostess Brand’s manufacturing facilities in the US and Canada, in addition to incorporating approximately 3,000 employees.
“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,” says Mark Smucker, chair of the board, president and CEO at J.M. Smucker.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of the company’s current fiscal year ending April 30, 2024.
Expanding offerings
The acquisitions will add snacks and expand the company’s range of sweet baked goods, strengthening its positioning in coffee, peanut butter, frozen handheld, fruit spreads, dog snacks and cat food.
“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,” Smucker explains.
He expects the business to be “well positioned” to deliver on the potential of its range of brands, “as has been reflected by our history of growth through acquisition and the successful integration of new categories to our business.”
Value making deal
The business also expects the company’s financial profile to be more robust, with a combination of scale and profitability increases.
“We believe this is the right partnership to accelerate growth and create meaningful value for consumers, customers and shareholders,” adds Andy Callahan, president and CEO of Hostess Brands.
“Our companies share highly complementary go-to-market strategies, and we are very similar in our core business principles and operations,” he highlights.
Hostess Brands will add a net sales contribution of around US$1.5 billion.
