Hormel Buys Skippy Peanut Butter
Minnesota-based Hormel Foods - food parent to brands like Spam and Hormel Meats - has bought Skippy Peanut Butter from Unilever. The deal is rumored to be $700 million for the venerable food brand.
The nations number two peanut butter (Jif is number one), Skippy first hit store shelves in 1934.
Hormel officials say that the purchase makes sound business sense for their company.
Hormel, best known for its meat products such as Spam, Dinty Moore Stew and deli meats, said the deal should add to earnings per share during its current fiscal year. It said the deal gives it a more balanced portfolio of products and should help its entry into the Chinese market.
Hormel said that peanut butter is the second most popular sandwich in the U.S. market, behind only ham. Overall peanut butter sales are $2 billion annually, and 74% of U.S. households buy the product, according to the company.
The announcement follows other news in 2012 that Unilever was selling off some of it's food brands.
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