Mondelez Sells SnackWell’s Stake

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By Trey Thoelcke Published
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The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Mondelez International Inc. (NYSE: MDLZ), the snack food business recently spun off from Kraft Foods, will give up its controlling interest in its SnackWell’s cookie and cracker business. Private equity firm Brynwood Partners will acquire the stake.

Brynwood specializes in taking faded brands from large corporations and creating new stand-alone companies. The firm said it will combine SnackWell’s with its Back to Nature cookies and granola business, in which it acquired a controlling stake last year through a similar transaction with Mondelez.

Activist investor Nelson Peltz has been pressing Mondelez to cut costs. Last summer, Peltz suggested that PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) merge its snack business with that of Mondelez. Peltz’s hedge fund Trian Fund Management owns stakes in both companies. That would bring together the makers of Cheetos and Quaker Oats with the maker of Ritz crackers and Chips Ahoy cookies.

Last week, Brynwood Partners sold DeMet’s Candy Company, maker of Turtles chocolates and Flipz chocolate pretzels, to Yildiz Holding, the Istanbul-based food and beverage company whose brands include Godiva, for $221 million. Brynwood acquired the Flipz and Turtles brands from Nestlé in separate transactions and is believed to have made about four times its investment.

“The real opportunity is for SnackWell’s to have an independent and dedicated management team to try to innovate and take advantage of trends in the marketplace,” a spokesperson for Brynwood said. “You have to rebuild the business, and it’s sometimes easier to do that outside a huge organization.”

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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