Utz Quality Foods acquires Inventure Foods

HANOVER, PA. — Utz Quality Foods announced Friday that it would be acquiring Inventure Foods in a deal valued at $165 million.

With manufacturing facilities in Arizona, Inventure’s portfolio includes such brands as Boulder Canyon Foods, TGI Fridays and Nathan's Famous.

“We are tremendously excited about the opportunity to acquire Inventure Foods,” Dylan Lissette, chief executive officer of Utz Quality Foods said. “The Company’s specialty snack food products and brands, as well as its geographic footprint, customer relationships and distribution strengths, are highly complementary to our business and we look forward to continuing Inventure’s strong heritage of innovation in both healthy and indulgent snacking. We have also been extremely impressed with the team at Inventure, and look forward to working together going forward.”

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the fourth quarter of 2017.

“This transaction is the result of diligent analysis and thoughtful strategic deliberations by our board of directors and the result of the strategic and financial review we initiated in July 2016,” Inventure CEO Terry McDaniel said. “Our board, with the advice of independent advisors, determined that this transaction will deliver immediate and certain cash value to our stockholders and new opportunities for our snack brands.”

Utz is the largest privately held and family-managed maker of branded salty snacks in the United States, with its products including potato chips, pretzels, cheese snacks and popcorn.