SAN FRANCISCO — Diamond Foods, Inc. has acquired a 51% stake of Yellow Chips, a manufacturer of vegetable and organic potato chips based in The Netherlands. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Yellow Chips markets its products under private labels and as its own premium brand, Go Pure, in Europe. Yellow Chips currently produces Kettle Brand Vegetable Chips for Diamond. Following the acquisition, Yellow Chips’ existing management team will continue to operate the company as an independent subsidiary.
“We are excited to acquire an interest in Yellow Chips, which enables us to better compete in the on-trend, high growth vegetable chip category in the U.K. and Europe,” said Brian Driscoll, president and chief executive officer of Diamond Foods. “We are pleased to welcome the Yellow Chip team, which has done an outstanding job creating a high quality product for us.”
Dominic Lowe, managing director of Kettle Chips U.K., said the company looks forward to working with the Yellow Chips team to expand European sales and increase distribution in the United Kingdom.
Vincent van Gorkom, one of the founders of Yellow Chips and a member of its management team, commented, “We’ve been working closely with Diamond over the past several months, and we’re excited to join the team. We will benefit from Diamond’s scale, marketing expertise and distribution network, and look forward to expanding awareness of our products and increasing market penetration in the U.K. and Europe.”
Diamond is financing the acquisition through cash on-hand.
