Kellogg to acquire snack maker Diamond Foods for $1.5 Billion

The cereal maker Kellog Corporation is soon to buy Diamond Foods. The companies are apparently in the late-stage negotiations to close the deal, but both sides  refused to comment.

The takeover price could be more than $1.5 billion, or $35 to $40 a share. Diamond was valued at about $1.1 billion as of Friday's close, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.4.

Kellogg was founded in Michigan in 1906. The company's cereal brands include Froot Loops, Corn Flakes, and Rice Krispies.

 In 2012, the company acquired Pringles, the potato chip brand, from Proctor & Gamble Corporation. Kellogg  would run further transition on snack foods if the talks with Diamond Foods will result in a deal.

Kellogg also bought Bisco Misr, the Egyptian baker, in January and entered into a distribution deal to expand in Africa.

The company has been trying to adapt to consumers decline on breakfast cereals. By acquiring more snack foods, especially popular brands like Diamond's, the company would be able to equal the decline of cereal.

The cereal sales in the US has stagnated in the last four weeks. The sales were flat compared to the same period a year earlier.

The snack foods category had a larger sales on Kellogg, compare to breakfast cereals which now represent only 20% of Kellogg's net sales.

On the other hand, snack maker Diamond has struggled to boost revenue this year. The company's revenue fell under analysts' estimations in each of the last four quarters. The company has hired Credit Suisse to explore a sale, news and data service on September.

Diamond Foods was founded in California in 1912. The company specializes in marketing nuts. The brands include Kettle Brand chips, Emerald snack nuts and Pop Secret popcorn.

According to New York Post, a source familiar to the situation said that Kellogg was somewhere between aggressive and desperate to use mergers to try to evolve its business away from breakfast cereal. The source added that Kellogg has been Diamond's aggressive suitor.

Diamond's biggest shareholders, as reported on Reuters, are hedge fund Oaktree Capital Management, with a 14% stake, and BlackRock Institutional Trust Co, with a stake of nearly 7%.

Diamond shares closed Thursday at $32.83, up 2.2%. Shares are up 16% for the year.

Another candidate to be acquired by Kellogg, according to Bloomberg View,  might have been Amplify Snack Brands for $930 billion. The company released Skinny Pop popcorn on August. This could be a good opportunity for Kellogg as analysts forecast Amplify's growth will be 10-20% next year.