Pepsi acquires Bare Snacks; strengthens Frito-Lay business

Food and beverage giant PepsiCo (PEP) has gobbled up San Francisco-based fruit and vegetable chips maker Bare Snacks for an unrevealed amount. By doing so, the company has expanded its Frito-Lay division’s “Better for You” snack offerings. When the transaction is sealed, Bare Foods will be reporting to Frito-Lay North America division and will continue to function independently from San Francisco.

Bare Snacks, which started its operations in 2001 as a family-owned business, makes organic snacks with real fruits and veggies which are gluten-free. Bare Snacks creates chips from apples, bananas, coconuts, carrots and sweet potatoes. About a month ago, the snacks maker’s CEO Santosh Padki said in an interview that some famous consumer packaged goods companies have approached the firm for a potential acquisition.

Pepsi’s CEO Indra Nooyi commented that Bare Snacks fits the company’s vision of creating more nutritious products. The Coca Cola’s rival didn’t acquire any company after it purchased the beverage company KeVita for an undisclosed sum in November 2016.

According to a report from Euromonitor, Frito-Lay has maintained its leading position in savory snacks in 2017 with a value share of 39%. Also, the research firm expects the US vegetable, bread, and pulse chips market to reach $2.5 billion by 2022.

Last month, Pepsi reported refreshing results for its first quarter beating Street’s view. However, the New York-based beverage company’s shares reached its 52-week low ($95.94) on May 9.  The stock plunged 16% year-to-date and dipped 15% in the past one year. When the market closed today, the stock inched up 0.13% to $100.31.