Estrella Maarud to become part of Intersnack Group

Intersnack Group GmbH & Co KG ("Intersnack") and Herkules Private Equity Fund II ("Herkules") today announced that they have entered into an agreement where Herkules sells the salted snacks manufacturer Estrella Maarud ("Estrella Maarud" or "the Company") to Intersnack for an undisclosed sum. The transaction has already closed for the Nordics, while closing for the Baltics is expected within a few weeks, subject to approval by the competition authority in Lithuania.

Estrella Maarud is a leading manufacturer and supplier of branded salted snacks in the Nordic and Baltic countries, including brands such as Maarud (number 1 in Norway), Estrella (number 1 or 2 in Sweden, Finland and the Baltics) and Taffel (challenger in Denmark). The Company has a long heritage of producing premium salted snacks and began making chips in 1936. It was acquired by Herkules in October 2008 through a carve-out from Kraft Foods and has thereafter established itself as a standalone company through a comprehensive process managed by Herkules, including the recruitment of a new management team. Today, Estrella Maarud offers consumers a complete range of snacks including chips, speciality snacks, baked snacks and nuts. Manufacturing facilities are located in Disenå (Norway), Angered (Sweden) and Kaunas (Lithuania) with headquarters in Oslo. During the past years, the company had a strong performance with top line growth of 7% in both 2012 and 2013, outperforming most peers in the Nordic grocery retail sector by far. In 2013, Estrella Maarud had an annual turnover of €130m and employs approximately 430 people.

Intersnack is a pan-European Group with decades of experience in the salted snack business. It has experienced strong growth, both organically and through several successful acquisitions. Last year the Group achieved a turnover of €2bn, employing more than 8,000 people. Like Estrella Maarud, the Group pursues a multi local business model, offering a broad portfolio of more than twenty local and some international brands and covering all snack categories. Intersnack strongly believes in local entrepreneurship and production.

Being part of Intersnack will enable Estrella Maarud to further capitalise on growth opportunities and strengthen its leading positions in its core markets.

Maarten Leerdam, Executive Chairman of Intersnack, says: "Estrella Maarud is a company with long-standing traditions and iconic brands that have established strong positions in their home markets. The Intersnack Board is very pleased to welcome Estrella Maarud to our Group and knows that the company fits perfectly. By this unique opportunity we enter the strong Nordic and Baltic snacks market with more than 32m consumers. We look forward to working with Estrella Maarud's existing management team and employees to jointly leverage the growth opportunities which the combined businesses offer."

Sverre Flåskjer, Partner, Herkules Capital says: "Our ambition with the Estrella Maarud investment was to create a strong salted snacks company. Together with management we have implemented our clearly defined plan to grow top line, strengthen the brands, innovate and improve performance. We have regained a strong number one position in Norway, the market leadership in potato chips in Sweden and the number two position in Denmark. The company is driving the category development for our customers across the Nordics and Baltics and is ready for its next development phase through an industrial ownership. Herkules Private Equity Fund II has with this sale completed another very successful investment."

Björn Pedersen, CEO Estrella Maarud says: "Herkules has played an active and strategic ownership role in Estrella Maarud which the entire team at Estrella Maarud is very pleased with. We are now very happy to have Intersnack as a new industrial owner which will enable us to continue developing the company further. We look forward to being part of a privately owned group with well-known local hero brands, high expertise and capabilities to develop new products - and with a very similar business approach to ours."

Herkules was advised by ABG Sundal Collier, Wiersholm and PWC. Intersnack was advised by Wikborg Rein and EY.