Mars is about to swallow “Piketty”! It wants to take down Kellogg's (K.US) worth $36 billion

Family-owned snack-food giant Mars (which includes M&Ms and Snickers) announced on Wednesday that it would buy Cheez-It and popular snack maker Ruffles, owned by Kellogg, in a deal that could be worth as much as $35.6bn, making it the largest acquisition in the packaged snack-food industry.

Mars will pay $83.50 a share in cash for Kellogg, a 33 per cent premium over the closing price of Kellogg shares on Aug 2, the day before Mars first disclosed it was exploring a deal for Ruffles, according to media reports.

The deal, which is expected to close in the first half of 2025, will be led by Andrew Clark, global president of Mars’ snacks division, and will bring together popular brands such as Twix, Bounty and Milky Way chocolate from Mars’ portfolio, and Pop-Tarts, Rice Krispies Treats and Eggo frozen waffles from Kellogg’s.

According to legal experts, the deal is not expected to face significant antitrust hurdles, as the overlap in services or products provided by the two companies is limited.

The companies said that Kellogg’s popular brands would become core parts of Mars’ snack business, which is led by Mr Clark and is based in Chicago.

Kellogg was spun off from WK Kellogg last October, and is mainly focused on salty snack foods and cereal sales outside of North America, while WK Kellogg took over the North American cereal business of the original company.

Annual results show Kellogg’s net sales exceeded $13bn in 2023.