US snacks firm Amplify Snack Brands has completed the acquisition of UK-based potato crisps producer Tyrrells from private equity firm Investcorp.
The completion resulted in Tyrrells becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amplify.
For the acquisition, Amplify paid nearly £278m in cash and issued approximately 2.1 million shares of its common stock to Investcorp and members of Tyrrells’ management team.
The company has financed the cash portion of the transaction with proceeds from a $600m covenant lite term loan.
Amplify’s president and chief executive officer Tom Ennis said: “We took a tremendous step forward to build upon our Better-For-You snacking growth strategy with the acquisition of Tyrrells and its international portfolio of premium snack brands.”
Amplify said that it continues to expect the acquisition to be accretive to both its 2017 and 2018 diluted earnings per share.
Jefferies was the exclusive financial advisor to Amplify in the transaction, and also acted as the lead left arranger and administrative agent for the financing.
Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Herefordshire, England, Tyrrells is a global snacking company that sells brands including Tyrrells Potato Crisps, Tyrrells branded Vegetable Crisps, Tyrrells Poshcorn, Tyrrells Nibbles, Tyrrells Tortillas, in the UK Europe and many other international markets.
Tyrrells earned approximately $111m in net sales for the last twelve months ended June 30, 2016.
In 2013, Bahrain-based Investcorp acquired Tyrrells from Langholm Capital for £100m.
Tyrrells expanded its presence in Australia with the acquisition of Yarra Valley Snack Foods last year.
