US – American multinational snack and food company Mondelēz, has announced that it is on track to acquire energy bar and drinks maker, Clif Bar & Company in an effort to expand its global snack bar business.
The maker of Cadbury chocolate bars will acquire the snack business for US$2.9 billion and will also pay additional amounts to the sellers depending upon its earnings from Clif Bar.
With the acquisition, Mondelēz plans to add Clif, Luna, and Clif Kid brands of bars to its portfolio through the acquisition of Clif company, creating a US$1 billion-plus global snack bar franchise for itself.
The food and beverage giant, which also makes Toblerone, Oreo, and Tang, expects the transaction to be accretive to its topline in the second year following the deal and will also create cost synergies for Clif’s distribution due to the company’s global scale.
Clif Bar’s acquisition marks the ninth deal Mondelez has closed since 2018 as it works towards reshaping its portfolio for higher long-term growth.
Sally Grimes, Chief Executive Officer, Clif Bar & Company said:” Mondelēz International is the right partner at the right time to support Clif in our next chapter of growth.
“Our purposes and cultures are aligned and being part of a global snacking company with broad product offerings can help us accelerate our growth.”
Mondelez will continue to manufacture Clif’s products in its facilities at Twin Falls in Idaho and Indianapolis in Indiana, the multinational confectionery and snack giant added.
Ferrero to reopen Belgium facility
Meanwhile, the Belgium Ferrero factory at the center of a major Salmonella outbreak will be reopening in the next few weeks after the Belgium food safety authority (AFSCA) gave a ‘conditional’ authorization for three months of monitoring the plant.
During the stipulated period, the raw materials, as well as each batch of foodstuffs produced, will be analyzed before the products can be placed on the market to monitor the corrective action the company has taken.
The decision to allow the plant to reopen comes after several weeks of in-depth analysis during saw several on-site checks both of the internal procedures put in place by Ferrero and the infrastructure of the factory, Agence Fédérale pour la Sécurité de la Chaîne Alimentaire (AFSCA) revealed.
Ferrero had the entire production of Kinder Surprise, Kinder Mini Eggs, Kinder Surprise Maxi 100g, and Kinder Schokobons made at the Arlon plant recalled in April and shortly afterward suspended operations at the plant.
The recall included not only Belgium, where the chocolates were made, but also the United States and other countries in Europe where the product was distributed.
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