B&G Foods Inc., Parsippany, N.J., the owner of several grocery brands, including Grandma’s Molasses, Ortega and Cream of Wheat, has been expanding into the snack aisle and just landed the healthy option in its third deal for a snack company. CEO David Wenner says the price was at a higher valuation than B&G has typically paid for a company in a deal, but said that Pirate’s Booty was going to expand the company’s offerings and its growth rate. He added that he hoped it would “broaden our appeal as a stock going forward.”

Though Pirate’s Booty and its other offerings of flavored rice-puffs are marketed toward children, a target B&G does not normally aim for, Wenner says the appeal is broad. He believed the organic and healthy-snack aspects of the brand are particularly relevant to today’s consumer.

“The brand is oriented toward kids to a great degree, but kids are certainly not the only users,” Wenner says. “The fact that it is in the house tends to mean everybody is eating the product.” Pirate’s Booty is currently owned by financial backers VMG Partners and Driven Capital Management as well as Robert Ehrlich, who founded the business in 1987.

Source: www.blogs.wsj.com