6/25/22

Mondelēz is putting up $2.9 billion to buy Clif Bar & Company, the country’s leading energy bar maker. It’s a move that will help improve the snack bar segment that is currently so important to the food manufacturing giant. According to Mondelēz, it also fits with their strategy of acquiring specific companies in specific global markets that show high growth potential.  Examples of this would be Grenade, a UK energy bar company, acquired in 2021, and Ricolino, a Mexican candy company, announced this year. 

Mondelēz will also get LUNA and CLIF Kid in the purchase. All told, it will stand to add over $1 billion to the company’s global snack bar business. Adding it to the entire acquisition portfolio, now 9 since 2018, will bring in more than $2.8 billion total. Perhaps more importantly, Mondelēz has obtained a brand that has years of growth potential in a market with incredible popularity.

When all is said and done, not much about CLIF bars will change. Packaging will likely stay the same, as well as taste. They will even continue to be manufactured in the CLIF bar facilities in Twin Falls, ID, and Indianapolis, IN. And in what is perhaps the most notable sign of respect, Clif Bar & Company will still be run from their Emeryville, CA headquarters.

The deal will be made official after the usual closing conditions and regulatory reviews are done. This is expected to be sometime in the 3rd quarter of this year, so sometime between July and September.