US snacks group Utz Brands is selling two of its manufacturing plants to local competitor Our Home.
Popchips maker Our Home will acquire Utz’s facilities in Berlin in Pennsylvania, and in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, alongside “certain related assets”, a statement from Utz issued today (18 April) read.
It is unclear which of Utz’s brands were manufactured at these sites.
The total transaction amounts to $18.5m and is expected to be complete by 22 April.
Both companies will abide by a “transition services agreement” for 12 months to support the acquisition.
As part of the agreement, Our Home will also co-manufacture “certain Utz products for a period of time”.
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The deal marks Our Home’s second acquisition of assets from Utz this year. In January, the company bought three Utz manufacturing plants and its two brands, Good Health and RW Garcia, for $182.5m.
Employees at both the Pennsylvania and Massachusetts facilities will be offered new roles with Our Home, following the acquisition, today’s statement read.
The deal is expected to help New Jersey-based Our Home “continue to operate and grow the manufacturing facilities under its platform”.
It will also provide Utz $14m after tax, which will go towards paying off a $9m sum that it owes in debt.
Reducing this debt will also help to lower interest expenses for fiscal 2024, the Golden Flake owner said.
Howard Friedman, the CEO of Utz, said: “This transaction will allow us to focus on the next phase of our optimisation efforts as we invest in our remaining facilities and continue to deliver on our value creation initiatives.”
Speaking on the transaction, Aaron Greenwald, Our Home’s founder and CEO, said: “It further scales Our Home’s snacking platform and manufacturing footprint, providing us the ability to manufacture potato chips, puffed snacks and popcorn across our better-for-you brands.”
In September, Utz set out plans to overhaul its manufacturing network to “support long-term volume growth and reduce costs”.
The Boulder Canyon maker sold a plant in Indiana and put two others – one in Louisiana and one in Alabama – on the block.
The number of manufacturing facilities Utz now owns has dropped by 50% since 2021, Friedman said. He added that scaling down production assets “[allows] us to allocate more volume to our larger manufacturing facilities and better leverage our fixed costs”.
The Zapp’s producer said it didn’t expect the transaction to “materially change” its goal of reducing costs via “supply chain network optimisation” by $45m between 2024 and 2026.
