PepsiCo acquires biscuit manufacturer in Brazil

PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE: PEP) today announced it has acquired Mabel, a leading producer of cookies, crackers and snacks in Brazil. The acquisition is expected to further strengthen PepsiCo’s business in a key emerging growth market.

Biscuits are the largest segment within Brazil’s growing snacks category, present in more than 98 percent of Brazilian households. Brazil is the second largest cookie and cracker producer in the world. The addition of Mabel – whose brands include Mabel, Elbi’s, Kelly and Skiny – complements PepsiCo’s existing food and beverage portfolio and creates new opportunities for future growth and expansion. Mabel joins a strong portfolio of popular PepsiCo brands in Brazil including Elma Chips, Quaker, Toddy Chocolate Powder and Toddynho Chocolate Milk.

“PepsiCo continues to build its global macro-snacks portfolio and make strategic investments that will drive our business performance and unlock long-term growth opportunities,” said John Compton, chief executive officer of PepsiCo Americas Foods and Global Snacks Group. “Brazil is an extremely important market for PepsiCo and this acquisition well positions us in a key segment in the snack category there.”

“Mabel is an important part of our plans for Brazil. It’s a company with a long history of providing Brazilian consumers with great-tasting products and trusted brands they know and love, and we’re excited for them to become part of the PepsiCo family,” added Olivier Weber, president of PepsiCo South America, Caribbean and Central America Foods.

With the acquisition, PepsiCo will employ approximately 12,000 people in Brazil and operate 19 food and beverage manufacturing facilities across the country.

The transaction is subject to a post-closing review by Brazil’s Council for Economic Defense. Financial terms were not disclosed.

PepsiCo continues to take steps to grow its business and invest in markets throughout the Latin America region. For example:

• In September of this year, PepsiCo opened a new manufacturing plant in Feira de Santana, in the Northeast of Brazil, and will generate about 400 direct and indirect jobs.
• PepsiCo recently acquired Dilexis, a traditional manufacturer of cookies and crackers in Argentina.
• In April 2011, Burger King Corporation announced that it had signed a multi-year agreement with PepsiCo to be the exclusive soft drink supplier in more than 1,000 restaurants throughout the company’s Latin America and Caribbean region.
• In March 2011, the PepsiCo Foundation contributed $5 million USD to the Inter-American Development Bank’s AquaFund. The grant will fund safe water and improved sanitation projects for at least 500,000 people in Latin America.
• In August 2010, PepsiCo announced an investment of $3 million USD to create the Agricultural Development Center of Peru. The Center, which is the first of its kind in Latin America, will focus on advanced farming techniques for potatoes and other tubers and roots that are used as ingredients in PepsiCo products around the world.