Mondelēz to acquire US energy bar maker Clif Bar for about $3 billion

Mondelēz International has on Monday announced an agreement to acquire Clif Bar & Company, leading US maker of nutritious energy bars with organic ingredients.

The deal is valued at $2.9 billion (£2.36bn) and Mondelēz said it will also pay additional amounts to the sellers depending upon its earnings from Clif Bar.

The Cadbury maker said the acquisition of leading on-trend brands CLIF, LUNA and CLIF Kid will expand its global snack bar business to more than $1 billion, including its complementary and leading refrigerated snacking business Perfect Snacks in the US and leading performance nutrition business Grenade in the UK.

“We are thrilled to welcome Clif Bar & Company’s iconic brands and passionate employees into the Mondelēz International family,” said Dirk Van de Put, chairman and chief execuitve of Mondelēz International.

“This transaction further advances our ambition to lead the future of snacking by winning in chocolate, biscuits and baked snacks as we continue to scale our high-growth snack bar business. As a leader and innovator in well-being and sustainable snacking in the US, Clif Bar & Company embodies our purpose to ‘empower people to snack right’ and we look forward to advancing this important work with Clif’s committed colleagues in the years ahead.”

Mondelēz added that it will continue to operate the Clif Bar & Company business from its headquarters in Emeryville, California and manufacture Clif’s products in its facilities at Twin Falls in Idaho and Indianapolis in Indiana.

“Mondelēz International is the right partner at the right time to support Clif in our next chapter of growth,” said Sally Grimes, chief executive at Clif Bar & Company.

“Our purposes and cultures are aligned and being part of a global snacking company with broad product offerings can help us accelerate our growth while staying true to our deeply ingrained Five Aspirations – sustaining our people, planet, community, business, and brands – five bottom lines that have grounded our company since its founding and will remain our North Star going forward.”

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 since 2018 as Mondelēz works towards reshaping its portfolio for higher long-term growth.

So far in 2022, Mondelēz International has announced an agreement to acquire Ricolino, Mexico’s leading confectionary company, from Grupo Bimbo and closed on its acquisition of Chipita S.A., a leader in the Central and Eastern European snack-size cakes and pastries category.

This follows a year of strong global snacking growth in 2021, including the acquisitions of Grenade in the UK; Gourmet Food Holdings, a leading Australian food company in the attractive premium biscuit and cracker category; and Hu, a well-being snacking company in the US.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter, Mondelēz said.