Kettle Chips owner buys Pringle

The owner of Norwich crisp maker Kettle Foods is to take over global snack brand Pringles in a $2.35bn deal, it has been announced today.

Diamond Inc and The Procter & Gamble Company said they had signed an agreement to merge the Pringles business into Diamond Foods.

Pringles claims to be the world's largest potato crisp brand with sales in more than 140 countries and manufacturing operations in the US, Europe and Asia.

Pringles will join Diamond's brands, which include Kettle Chips, creating a premium snack-focused company with total revenues of approximately $2.4bn.

The firm said the combination will more than triple the size of Diamond's snack business and leverage Diamond's sales and distribution infrastructure through a more than doubling of snack sales in the US and UK, Pringles' two largest markets.

The brand has been built over 45 years with a combination of proprietary products, unique package and significant advertising investment.

'Pringles is an iconic, billion dollar snack brand with significant global manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure,' said Michael Mendes, chairman, president and chief executive of Diamond Foods.

'Our plan is to build upon the brand equity Pringles has established. This strategic combination will create an independent, global leader in the snack industry with a focus on quality and innovative products.'

Diamond acquired Kettle chips in 2010 and says it has fueled double-digit organic growth in its first year of ownership while investing in new products and operational infrastructure.

Earlier this year it announced a $10m investment in its Kettle chips factory at Bowthorpe, which employs about 450 people.