Kraft Heinz to offload nuts business to Hormel Foods for $3.3bn

Kraft Heinz has agreed to sell its nuts business to Hormel Foods for $3.35 billion in an all-cash deal.

The deal includes most products sold by Kraft Heinz under the Planters brand. These include single variety and mixed nuts, trail mix, Cheez Balls, Nut-rition products, and Cheez Curls. Kraft Heinz is also selling the Corn Nuts branded products as part of the transaction.

Also included in the deal are global intellectual property rights to the Planters snacking nuts brand, which is subject to existing third-party licenses in some international jurisdictions, and to the Corn Nuts brand.

Miguel Patricio – Kraft Heinz CEO said: “This is another momentous step in our rapid transformation of Kraft Heinz.

“It will enable us to sharpen our focus on areas with greater growth prospects and competitive advantage for our powerhouse brands. Within our Real Food Snacking platform, this means more aggressively driving real fuel for kids through Lunchables and real meal alternatives like P3.”

Kraft Heinz to sell nuts business to Hormel Foods for $3.3bn. Photo courtesy of Hormel Foods Corporation.

The Planters snack nuts business of Kraft Heinz earned around $1.1 billion in the fiscal year 2020.

As per the terms of the deal, Kraft Heinz will sell the production facility of the Corn Nuts brand in Fresno, California, and Planters production facilities in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Suffolk, Virginia.

The two facilities and their employees will continue operations in the ordinary course, said Kraft Heinz.

Jim Snee – president and CEO of Hormel Foods said: “Planters is an iconic leading snack brand with universal consumer awareness.

“The acquisition of the Planters business adds another $1 billion brand to our portfolio and significantly expands our presence in the growing snacking space. The Planters brand enhances our portfolio built for individual and social snacking occasions, and perfectly complements our snacking brands such as Hormel Gatherings, Columbus, Justin’s, SKIPPY, Herdez and Wholly.

“This acquisition also meaningfully broadens our scope for future acquisitions in the snacking space.”

The deal, which is subject to regulatory review and approval, is expected to be wrapped up in the first half of this year.