The Supply Side briefs: Confection companies shake-up holdings

A number of companies that create sugary confections recently announced they are mixing up their brand holdings as 2013 winds to a close. Godiva, DeMet,and Snackwell are among the brands in transition. These candy companies operate sales offices in Northwest Arkansas as suppliers to Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

• Godiva to acquire Turtles from DeMet’s Candy
The Godiva chocolate brand is buying DeMet’s Candy Co. from Brynwood Partners V L.P. for $221 million. The transaction is expected to close in January.

DeMet’s Candy, based in Stamford, Conn., makes chocolate products under Turtles, Treasures and Flipz brands, and was formed in 2007 by Brynwood. All of its brands were acquired by Brynwood Partners from Nestle USA in separate transactions.

Peter Wilson, CEO of DeMet’s Candy, will remain at Brynwood Partners. The rest of DeMet’s Candy’s management team will join Godiva. The company employs approximately 200 people and operates two manufacturing plants in the United States, with a sales office in Bentonville.

“We are delighted to announce the divestiture of DeMet’s Candy,” said Hendrik Hartong III, chairman of DeMet’s Candy. “We originally formed DeMet’s Candy in 2007 to acquire the Turtles brand in the U.S. from Nestle USA and combined it with the Flipz brand, which we had acquired from Nestle USA in 2004. After forming DeMet’s Candy we quickly hired a management team, with whom we have worked collaboratively, to create significant shareholder value. We are grateful to DeMet’s Candy’s management team and all of the hard working employees in the manufacturing plants for their tireless efforts under our ownership. We wish Godiva success with this outstanding company.”

Yildiz Holdings, which owns Godiva, produces a range of food and beverage products, including biscuits, margarine and edible oils, dairy products and baby food, with sales in more than 80 countries.

Mondelez sells Snackwell’s to Brynwood Partners
Mondelez International, which makes snack brands including Oreo, Cadbury and Trident gum, has sold share of the SnackWell's cookie and cracker business to Brynwood Partners VI LP, the private equity firm said on Monday (Dec. 30).

Brynwood did not disclose the financial details of the deal, which was earlier reported by the Wall Street Journal.

“SnackWell's significantly increases our scale in the important cookie and cracker categories,” noted Vincent Fantegrossi CEO of acquiring venture.

SnackWell's, originally launched by Nabisco Inc in 1992 as a brand of reduced fat and fat-free cookies and crackers, also sells pretzels and popcorn aimed at dieters.

• Mars to expand chocolate plant in Waco
Mars Chocolate said it will invest $11.7 million to upgrade its candy facility in Waco, Texas in 2014.

The plant makes most of the nation’s Starburst, Skittles and Snickers, and approximately $4 million of the investment will be used to add an enrobing machine that coats candy in chocolate.