Utz Brands Inc. has agreed to be acquired by Germany-based Intersnack Group in a transaction valued at approximately $2.9 billion that will take the Hanover, Pa.-based snack manufacturer private while keeping the founding Rice and Lissette family as a 50% owner.
Under the definitive agreement announced July 21, Intersnack will acquire all outstanding Class A common shares of Utz for $14.25 per share in cash, representing a 91% premium over the company’s July 20 closing price. Following the transaction, Intersnack and the Rice and Lissette family will each own 50% of the privately held company.
The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to shareholder approval, regulatory clearance and customary closing conditions. The Rice and Lissette family and certain affiliates, which control approximately 42% of Utz’s voting shares, have agreed to support the transaction.
Following the closing, Chairman Dylan Lissette will become executive chairman, and Utz shares will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. Howard Friedman, Utz’s president and chief executive officer, said Intersnack’s marketing, manufacturing, technology and innovation capabilities will help accelerate the company’s long-term growth strategy.
The deal marks another major transition for Utz, which became a publicly traded company in 2020 through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). When Food Trade News interviewed Lissette following that announcement, he shared this perspective: “If you think about it, we are really the only stand-alone pure-play snacking platform in the United States of scale. As a public company we will be well poised to be the potential consolidator of choice.”
The firm bought a selection of pretzel brands from Conagra Brands, and assets of the C.J. Vitner salty snack business in 2021. He added that the company had developed expertise integrating acquisitions across financial, cultural and brand dimensions. Friedman succeeded Lissette as chief executive in December 2022, while Lissette remained chairman.
According to Utz, a special committee of independent directors evaluated Intersnack’s proposal after the company expressed interest in a going-private transaction. The committee determined the all-cash offer represented the best available alternative for shareholders, and the Utz board unanimously approved the agreement.
The transaction will be financed through approximately $920 million in cash from Intersnack, new debt facilities totaling $1.35 billion, rollover equity from the Rice and Lissette family and the family’s reinvestment of a portion of proceeds from the settlement of the company’s tax receivable agreement.
Founded more than a century ago in Hanover, Utz has grown into a national snack manufacturer with brands including Utz, Zapp’s, On The Border Chips & Dips, Boulder Canyon, Golden Flake, Hawaiian Brand, Dirty Potato Chips, Bachman, and Tim’s Cascade Snacks. The company reported fiscal 2025 net sales of approximately $1.44 billion.
For Düsseldorf-based Intersnack, the acquisition provides its first operating presence in the U.S. snack market. The privately held company operates in 31 countries across Europe, Asia, and Oceania, employs approximately 14,500 people and generated about $5 billion in sales in 2025.
Utz said it will maintain its headquarters in Hanover and continue its commitment to the local community following the transaction.