TreeHouse Foods Inc. has agreed to acquire Flagstone Foods – the leading provider of private-label healthy snacks, one of the fastest-growing on-trend categories in the food industry – for $860 million.
Flagstone Foods is one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of private-label healthy snacks in North America, and holds the No. 1 private-label position in the trail mix and dried fruit categories. The company has approximately 1,365 employees and is headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., and operates two state-of-the-art facilities in Minneapolis and Roberson, N.C. Flagstone Foods reported sales of $697 million for the fiscal year ended Dec. 28, 2013.
“We are extremely enthusiastic about the acquisition of Flagstone Foods,” said Sam K. Reed, chairman, president and CEO of TreeHouse Foods. “Flagstone Foods is ideally situated at the intersection of health and wellness, snacking and the perimeter of the store, and represents an attractive new platform for TreeHouse to enter the on-trend, rapidly growing $7.1 billon healthy snacks category.”
Flagstone Foods was formed in 2010 when Gryphon Investors simultaneously acquired two independent companies – Ann’s House of Nuts, the largest private-label manufacturer and marketer of trail mix and snack nuts in the world, and American Importing Co. (Amport Foods), the largest private-label manufacturer and marketer of dried fruits – to create the leading healthy snacks manufacturer in the country.
“We are delighted to have executed on our original vision of building a truly premier company in the rapidly growing healthy snacks sector. The strategic combination of Ann’s and Amport formed a vehicle for tremendous value creation under the direction of Gryphon’s proactively recruited management team,” said David Andrews, Gryphon’s CEO and managing partner.
Paul Lapadat, the CEO of Flagstone, said: “Our management team looks forward to utilizing the resources and support of TreeHouse to maintain our momentum and continue our growth strategies as a leading healthy snacking partner for major retailers.”
