Tyrrells bagged in £300m deal by US popcorn-maker

Crisp-maker Tyrrells has been sold to US popcorn and tortilla chips-maker Amplify in a deal valued at £300m, reports the Financial Times.

The company was owned by private equity firm Investcorp, which bought it from fellow institutional investor Langholm Capital for around £100m in 2010. Investcorp has trebled its money on the deal after pursuing an acquisition growth strategy in recent years, the FT adds.

This was cited as one of the reasons that the sale, which was agreed before the EU referendum, went ahead and with no renegotiation in price despite the slump in the pound making it more expensive for the Texas-based buyer.

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The proportion of Tyrrells' sales that are generated overseas has doubled from 20 per cent three years ago to 40 per cent, in particular through the acquisition of Lisa’s in Germany and Yarra Valley in Australia. Overseas sales are more lucrative in the wake of the post-Brexit vote sterling slide.

The deal will give Tyrrells its first opportunity to gain a significant foothold in the $9.2bn (£7bn) US crisp market, which is dominated by PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay brands. It will also provide a platform in 40 countries for Amplify's brands, SkinnyPop popcorn and Paqui tortilla chips.

Tyrrells itself has branched out from selling its "hand cooked English crisps" since it was formed 14 years ago to produce popcorn, tortilla chips and "nibbles".

Chief executive David Milner, who will move to Amplify to take charge of the company’s non-US operations, said: "We had a very attractive offer we feel was hard to ignore."

He added: "[Secondly] the people who made the offer - we admired SkinnyPop from afar … They are very similar to us, being a relatively small food business that is really fast-growing and not bureaucratic. We fit together very well."