Snyder's-Lance, Inc. (LNCE)

Snyder's-Lance, Inc. was one of the largest snack food makers in the United States. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, it produced pretzels, sandwich crackers, potato chips, tortilla chips, popcorn, nuts and cookies. Its best known brands included Snyder's of Hanover, Lance, Cape Cod, Kettle Brand, Pretzel Crisps, Late July, Pop Secret, Emerald and Krunchers. The company sold through grocery chains, mass merchants, convenience stores, club stores and vending, and it relied on a network of independent business owners for direct store delivery in many markets.

The company was created in December 2010 by the merger of two long-established family businesses. Lance, Inc. had been founded in Charlotte in 1913 and was known for its peanut butter sandwich crackers, while Snyder's of Hanover had roots going back to 1909 in Hanover, Pennsylvania. Lance was already listed on Nasdaq under the symbol LNCE, and the combined company kept that ticker after the merger. Pretzels and crackers formed the core of the new business, and the company ran bakeries and plants in several states.

Snyder's-Lance grew through a series of acquisitions aimed at faster-growing premium snacks. In 2012 it bought Snack Factory, the maker of Pretzel Crisps, and it later added the organic brand Late July. The largest deal came in February 2016, when it acquired Diamond Foods, which brought in Kettle Brand potato chips, Pop Secret popcorn and Emerald nuts. That transaction expanded the company's presence in the United Kingdom through Kettle's European operations and pushed annual sales above two billion dollars.

In December 2017 Campbell Soup Company agreed to buy Snyder's-Lance for $50.00 per share in cash. The price valued the business at roughly $6.1 billion including assumed debt and was a substantial premium to the share price before the deal became public. Campbell wanted to build a much larger snacking division alongside its Pepperidge Farm unit, which makes Goldfish crackers and Milano cookies. Shareholders approved the merger, and regulators cleared it in early 2018.

The acquisition closed on March 26, 2018, and Snyder's-Lance became a wholly owned subsidiary of Campbell. Its stock was removed from Nasdaq at that time, and holders received cash for their shares. Campbell combined the brands with Pepperidge Farm into its Campbell Snacks segment, and in later years it sold the Kettle Brand business in Europe. Campbell, which now operates as The Campbell's Company, still trades on Nasdaq under the symbol CPB and continues to market many of the former Snyder's-Lance brands.