Dive Brief:
- Shearer's Foods has agreed to buy the private-label snack business of Snyder's-Lance for $430 million. The deal includes manufacturing facilities in Burlington, Iowa, and Ontario, Canada.
- Snyder's-Lance, a publicly traded company based in Charlotte, NC, said it plans to focus operations on its branded products, including Hanover pretzels and Cape Cod Potato Chips.
- In a separate deal, Snyder's-Lance said it was buying Baptista's Bakery, which supplies pretzels to the company.
Dive Insight:
Snyder's-Lance gets some 61% of its revenue from its branded products, whereas private-brand sales generate less than 20%. Given numbers like those, some can see the appeal of backing out of the generics game.
It's a welcome relief that Snyder's-Lance decided to sell, rather than shutter, its plant in Ontario. Folks in that province have seen enough plant closings to last a lifetime.