Campbell Soup to buy Snyder's-Lance for $50 a share

Campbell Soup Co. Camden, has agreed to buy snack giant Snyder's-Lance, of Charlotte, N.C., for $50 a share.

The deal will nearly double the packaged snacks business at Campbell, adding $2.2 billion in potato chips, crackers and other salty snacks, and boosting total Campbell sales to around $10 billion a year.

Campbell has tried a series of big acquisitions in other food businesses to boost sales to supplement slowing growth for its best-known product, canned soups.

Snyder's-Lance has 6,000 employees at 13 plants, including the Snyder's of Hanover plant that makes salty snacks in Hanover, Pa.

http://ir.snyderslance.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1052028