HERSHEY, PA. — The Hershey Co. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Amplify Snack Brands, Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $1.6 billion. Austin, Texas-based Amplify manufactures snacks under the SkinnyPop, Paqui, Tyrrells and Oatmega brands.
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| Michele Buck, president and c.e.o. of Hershey |
“The acquisition of Amplify and its product portfolio is an important step in our journey to becoming an innovative snacking powerhouse as together it will enable us to bring scale and category management capabilities to a key sub-segment of the warehouse snack aisle,” said Michele Buck, president and chief executive officer of The Hershey Co. “Hershey’s snack mix and meat snacks products, combined with Amplify’s SkinnyPop, Tyrrells, Oatmega, Paqui and other international brands, will allow us to capture more consumer snacking occasions by creating a broader portfolio of brands.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Hershey will acquire all outstanding shares of Amplify for $12 per share, which represents a multiple of approximately 14.8x 2017 adjusted EBITDA, including run-rate synergies of approximately $20 million expected to be generated over the next two years. Hershey expects the transaction to be accretive to adjusted earnings per share-diluted in the first year after the deal closes, with accretion increasing in the second year.
The boards of directors of both companies have approved the agreement. The transaction is subject to the approval of Amplify’s majority stockholders and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018.
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| Tom Ennis, president and c.e.o. of Amplify |
