Valeo Foods completes acquisition of Campbell’s crisps business in Europe

IRELAND – Irish food group, Valeo Foods has closed the acquisition of European chips business from the Campbell Soup Company for approximately US$80 million.

The acquisition, which was announced in September this year, includes Kettle Foods Limited in the United Kingdom and Yellow Chips B.V., which is based in The Netherlands.

Under the terms the deal, Campbell will retain ownership of the Kettle brand and its operations in the US and other geographies while Valeo will be taking command of the snack brands sold across the UK, Europe and the Middle East. 

Campbell Soup said it intends to grow the Kettle brand within its Snacks business unit portfolio.

Campbell has only owned Kettle Foods since 2018, when it acquired Snyder’s-Lance, the brand’s parent – which had previously acquired Kettle from Diamond Foods, another US-based group.

The divestiture is part of the company’s ongoing transition of its international business seeking to narrow its focus to core canned soup unit and snacks.

Campbell Soup has also agreed to sell its Arnott’s snack business and its simple meals and shelf-stable beverages business, both of which are in Australia and Asia Pacific, to the private equity firm KKR for US$2.2 billion.

The acquisition the European crisps business by Valeo Foods is estimated to add approximately €115 million (US$125.83m) to Valeo Foods annual sales.

Valeo intends to continue the development of Kettle Foods as an expanding international export business by leveraging the Group’s existing supply chain which distributes to approximately 90 countries globally. 

Valeo Foods Group has operations in Ireland, the UK and continental Europe and annual sales of approximately US$930 million. Products in the company’s portfolio include snacks, sweets, baking and meal ingredients, and beverages.

This recent acquisition deal is expected to spark a new phase in the Irish company’s strategy of consolidation in the Irish, UK and European ambient foods space.

Valeo has also entered into an agreement to acquire 2 Sisters Food’s pudding business in the UK, trading as Matthew Walker for £67 million (US$83.48m). The company has completed 14 acquisitions over the past nine years.