Bakery and snack M&A deals analysed:
- Intersnack’s proposed deal values US snack maker Utz Brands at US$2.9bn and would give Intersnack and Utz’s founding family equal ownership of the private business.
- Baker & Baker acquired Lazy Day Foods, adding its first Scottish manufacturing site and a dedicated bakery producing around 75 free-from lines.
- Lantmännen Unibake completed its acquisition of Panificio San Francesco on 2 November 2026, adding a frozen bread factory in northern Italy that supplies supermarkets and discounters.
- Mondelēz International agreed to buy a majority stake in Undercover Snacks, a US maker of chocolate-coated and frosted quinoa crisps sold in more than 25,000 retail locations.
- The UK Competition and Markets Authority requires Vandemoortele to sell its Worcester laminated dough plant and UK sales operation following its acquisition of Délifrance.
Food and drink dealmaking picked up in the US this summer, but the rest of the world didn’t follow. Investment bank PMCF tracked 194 transactions globally in the third quarter, against 196 in the second. The US count rose from 64 to 76, with operating companies behind most of the increase. North America and Europe together accounted for nearly four in five deals.
Private-label products accounted for 23.5% of US grocery unit sales in the first eight months of 2026, according to PMCF. The bank says retailers need manufacturers that can develop a recipe to brief, meet the buyer’s specifications and turn out enough to supply the chain. An acquirer that buys a factory already doing all three can bid for that work without first having to build a new line.
Meanwhile, some big groups are selling businesses to pay down debt or focus on fewer categories. Kraft Heinz has agreed to sell control of its North American coffee business, which includes Maxwell House, in a US$650m deal. It plans to use roughly US$500m in cash proceeds to reduce debt. Nestlé has sold UK recipe-kit business SimplyCook to its longtime partner Jardox, an ingredients and flavourings supplier, for an undisclosed sum. And Perrigo has agreed to sell its infant formula business to contract manufacturer MeridianMade for up to US$175m as it refocuses on consumer self-care.
What’s a specialist factory worth?
Baker & Baker’s purchase of Lazy Day Foods brings it a dedicated 26,500 sq ft free-from bakery in Harthill, North Lanarkshire. It’s the group’s fifth UK manufacturing site and its first in Scotland. Around 190 people make approximately 75 permanent and seasonal lines there, including cakes, biscuits and traybakes made without gluten, milk, eggs or nuts. Founded by food scientists Sally Beattie and Emer Bustard in 2006, Lazy Day supplies UK retailers under its own brand and on a private-label basis.
“We have strong expertise in gluten-free bakery via our Ashington site, and this acquisition supports our expansion into the adjacent category of ‘free-from’, which represents an exciting area of growth,” said Baker & Baker CEO Matthew Acheson.
Baker & Baker, headquartered in Bromborough on the Wirral, says it’ll retain the Lazy Day brand and keep the Harthill operation and workforce in place. The group’s existing UK and international customers give Lazy Day a route to more listings from a factory already set up to handle several dietary requirements. It’s Baker & Baker’s second acquisition since becoming a standalone business, following the purchase of its pastel de nata factory in Peniche, Portugal, in 2022. The price wasn’t disclosed.
Commercial Bakeries has bought a different sort of specialist in Partners, a second-generation, family-owned cracker maker based in Des Moines, Washington state, in the US. Partners supplies private-label, contract manufacturing and industrial customers from a 150,000 sq ft factory and distributes across all 50 US states. It’s the Toronto-based buyer’s third acquisition since Graham Partners took ownership in 2023, following Imagine Baking in May 2024 and Hollandia Bakeries in April 2025.
The acquisition, announced on 20 October, adds several cracker production lines and automated packaging capacity to Commercial Bakeries’ operations in the Pacific Northwest. Greg Maestretti, Partners’ vice-president of operations and son of founder Marian Harris, said the team wants to “drive additional volume through our facility”. The companies didn’t disclose financial terms.
Buying a way into new markets
Lantmännen Unibake completed its purchase of Panificio San Francesco on 2 November. Founded in 2006, the Italian business employs about 100 people at its Codevilla bakery, south of Milan, and supplies frozen bread to supermarkets and discounters for baking in-store. Panificio CEO Massimo Sanchioli said customers “will continue to be served by their existing contacts and teams”.
Copenhagen-based Lantmännen Unibake sells bakery products in more than 60 markets and already had an office in Milan. The acquisition expands its Italian operations to include local production.
Brazil’s M Dias Branco is entering the frozen bread market through a majority stake. The biscuit, pasta and granola producer agreed to pay 208.4m Brazilian reais for 80% of Grespan, which recorded R$138.7m in gross revenue in 2025 and supplies more than 1,100 customers, including supermarkets, wholesalers and bakeries. The price is payable at closing, and the agreement remains subject to customary conditions. Grespan is based in Marília, São Paulo, and serves customers mainly in south-eastern and central-western Brazil. Its founders are expected to stay involved for up to five years, giving M Dias Branco time to learn a business built around customers baking throughout the day as demand dictates.
Core Home is taking a different route into food and drink. The New York housewares group announced its purchase of Tochi Snacks on 10 November after closing the deal in October. The family-founded business makes popcorn in flavours including salted egg, black sesame and ube, alongside crispy salmon chips. It already sells through more than 200 US wholesale accounts, including speciality grocers and independents. Core Home says Tochi will keep its own brand and gain access to the group’s retail relationships. The next listings will show how far the new owner can take Tochi beyond the speciality shops that already stock it.
Mondelēz agreed on 29 October to buy a majority stake in Undercover Snacks, the New Jersey maker of chocolate-coated and frosted quinoa crisps. Undercover says its products are sold in more than 25,000 retail locations and that United Airlines has handed out more than 175m units since 2023 as a complimentary main-cabin snack.
Undercover will operate as a standalone business in Mondelēz’s North America Ventures unit alongside Perfect Snacks, Tate’s Bake Shop and Hu. Founder Diana Levy will remain CEO, while her husband Michael Levy, currently executive chair and lead investor, will serve as president and chief operating officer. The couple will retain a significant minority stake and both will sit on the board. Mondelēz expects the deal to close in the first quarter of 2027, subject to customary conditions including regulatory approval.
Utz Brands shareholders are due to vote on a deal that would take the US salty snacks maker private at an enterprise value of about US$2.9bn. Intersnack would pay US$14.25 in cash for each publicly traded Class A share, a 91% premium to the 20 July closing price. Utz says all regulatory conditions have been met and expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to the remaining conditions.
Intersnack and Utz’s founding Rice and Lissette family would each own half of the private business. Howard Friedman is due to step down as CEO after the deal closes, with Utz board member John Lindeman set to succeed him.
Délifrance pledges continuity as CMA orders sale
Belgium’s Vandemoortele bought French frozen bakery supplier Délifrance from Vivescia Group at the end of 2025 for an undisclosed price. The deal brought together two suppliers of frozen croissants, pains au chocolat and other bakery products to retailers and foodservice operators.
“Our priority is continuity, so customers will continue to work with the people and processes they know today,” a spokesperson for the companies told us. She added that both companies would preserve existing recipes and continue to support bespoke development.
“With 41 manufacturing sites across the combined network, we benefit from a broader footprint, in terms of product and territories, complementary capabilities and greater operational flexibility,” she said. She added that customers would remain “free to choose the partners that best meet their needs”.
However, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ruled on 20 August that the merger would substantially reduce competition in the supply of frozen laminated dough products to UK retailers and foodservice operators. On 6 October, it accepted binding commitments from Vandemoortele to sell its Worcester laminated dough plant and its UK sales operation in Staines-upon-Thames to a buyer approved by the CMA.
The sale includes staff, contracts and UK customer accounts supplied wholly or partly by Worcester. Some of those customers also get products from other Vandemoortele factories. If they ask to keep receiving those products, Vandemoortele will make them on behalf of the new owner for up to two years after the sale, giving the new owner time to arrange its own supply.
The spokesperson said both companies would work with affected customers to maintain supply during the handover.
