Hostess Brands Inc. recently announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Voortman Cookies Limited from Swander Pace Capital for approximately $320 million.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Hostess board of directors. Hostess expects to close the transaction in early January 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.
Under the terms of the transaction agreement, Voortman will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Hostess. The company intends to finance the $320 million transaction by using cash on its balance sheet, along with secured financing commitments from Credit Suisse and Citi.
“Voortman is a leading brand with a well-defined consumer position that complements and extends the growing Hostess portfolio into the growing cookie and better-for-you sweet snacking categories with meaningful runway for future growth,” said Andy Callahan, Hostess’ President and CEO. “We believe the acquisition of Voortman will create significant value for all of our stakeholders. We expect the combination of Hostess’ lean, proven operating model and Voortman’s brand and adjacent category position, will result in meaningful cost savings and growth opportunities. This acquisition fits well into our long-term growth strategy, and we are confident that Voortman will be a great addition to our existing sweet baked goods snacking and breakfast portfolio.”
Voortman is the No. 1 player in crème wafers and sugar free cookies, as reported by Nielsen for the 52-week period ended Nov. 2, 2019, and has achieved compound annual point-of-sale (POS) growth over the past three years of approximately 5%.
Founded in 1951 by brothers William and Harry Voortman and headquartered in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, Voortman is a manufacturer of premium, branded wafers as well as sugar-free and specialty cookies with distribution mainly in the U.S. and Canada. Voortman’s product ingredients, flavor profiles and better-for-you (BFY) characteristics complement Hostess’ sweet baked goods snacking business.
“The team at Voortman is excited about becoming part of the Hostess portfolio and the prospects for further dramatic growth of the Voortman brand behind the exceptional capabilities of the Hostess organization,” said Douglas MacFarlane, CEO of Voortman.
