Dive Brief:
- Hormel Foods will pay $450 million to acquire CytoSport Holdings, maker of the Muscle Milk brand of protein drinks.
- The purchase gives the meat processor, best-known for its Spam brand of canned meats, a foothold in the fast-growing market for protein supplements.
- The deal comes four months after CytoSport announced it was in the market for a buyer.
Dive Insight:
Back in February when the private equity team that owned CytoSport started shopping the brand around, the most likely buyer was seen as Post Holdings, which just days before had bought two protein-supplement businesses from Nestle. And early reports said that CytoSport's owners hoped to fetch $500 million for Muscle Milk.
It appears that something happened between then and now to convince Post to back away ...and to convince CytoSport that the brand was worth less than hoped.