Hershey to buy Amplify Snack Brands in $1.6bn deal

Hershey has agreed to buy Amplify Snack Brands in a $1.6bn deal.

Under the terms of the deal, Hershey will buy all outstanding shares of Amplify for $12.00 per share. Hershey said it expects the transaction - which will be funded with cash on hand and new debt - to be accretive to adjusted earnings per share-diluted, including transaction related non-cash amortisation, in the first year post closing with accretion increasing in year two.

Hershey President and chief executive officer Michele Buck said: "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.

"Hershey’s snack mix and meat snacks products, combined with Amplify’s Skinny Pop, Tyrrells, Oatmega, Paqui and other international brands, will allow us to capture more consumer snacking occasions by creating a broader portfolio of brands."

Tom Ennis, president and CEO of Amplify, said: "Since Amplify’s inception in 2014, our company’s goal has been to bring transparency to our products, and clean ingredients and great tasting snacks to consumers.

"This transaction is a continuation of our mission as Hershey also believes in bringing to consumers great-tasting snacks made with the best ingredients possible. Hershey is a great cultural partner for Amplify and I’m excited for our team who will have access to Hershey’s marketing and go-to-market resources to take our brands to the next level."