Mars agrees to acquire Pringles maker Kellanova for 36 billion dollars
The firm that makes well-known candies like M&Ms and Snickers, Mars, revealed on Wednesday that it has reached an agreement to buy Kellanova, another massive food manufacturer that makes products including Pringles, for $35.9 billion, including debt.
“We have a substantial opportunity to further develop a sustainable, future-proof snack business.” Mars CEO Poul Weihrauch said following the announcement of the acquisition, which is expected to be completed in the first half of next year.
Given that Kellanova already owns the well-known American snack brands Eggo and Cheez-It, this transaction—one of the biggest in recent memory—will enable Mars to extend beyond the chocolate snack market and into the savory snack space.
This is a similar strategy to that of Hershey, which acquired the parent company of SkinnyPop and Dot’s Pretzels.
Before this operation was forged, Kellanova had warned of the need to opt for other strategies in the food and beverage market because “consumers are buying less or switching to generic brands” due to price increases due to higher raw material and labor costs and the desire to increase profit margins.
In addition, Mars already bought Kind North America, the company that makes Kind bars, in 2020 and has sought to continue a diversification process that also includes Iams pet food and a complementary pet clinic service.
Kellanova operates in 180 markets, last year had a turnover of $50 billion and a workforce of 23,000.
