Procter & Gamble sells Pringles in $2.3bn deal

Procter & Gamble (P&G) yesterday agreed to sell "iconic snack brand" Pringles to Diamond Foods in a deal worth $2.3bn (£1.4bn).

Pringles, the world's largest potato crisp brand, will triple Diamond's existing snack business.

Michael Mendes, the chairman, president and chief executive of Diamond Foods, said: "Pringles is an iconic, billion-dollar snack brand with significant global-manufacturing and supply-chain infrastructure." Shares in the company rose by more than 10 per cent yesterday.

The group bought Kettle chips for $615m last year. Its other snacks include Emerald nuts and Pop Secret microwave popcorn.

The crisps, whose slogan famously ran "Once you pop, you can't stop", are now sold in more than 140 countries and have a history stretching back almost half a century. The US and the UK are its two largest markets.

The move marks the divestment of the last of P&G's food brands. Bob McDonald, the group's chairman, president and chief executive, said: "We are confident Diamond Foods will be an excellent new home for our Snacks employees," adding it was a "terrific deal for shareholders".

The deal will see Pringles combined with Diamond Foods, with P&G shareholders taking 57 per cent of the merged group. Diamond will also take on Pringles' debt, which is valued at $850m.