TreeHouse Foods Inc., a maker of private-label foods for retailers, agreed to buy Flagstone Foods for $860 million in cash to expand in healthy snacks such as dried fruits. The deal will add 24 cents to 28 cents to per-share earnings in the first full year after completion, Oak Brook, Illinois-based TreeHouse said in a statement today. The final price to be paid to private-equity firm Gryphon Investors and other Flagstone shareholders is subject to an adjustment of working capital, TreeHouse said. TreeHouse has acquired at least six food companies in the past four years to add products including soups and broths, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Flagstone holds the No. 1 private-label position in the trail mix and dried fruit categories and generated $697 million in sales for the year ended 28 Dec, TreeHouse said. TreeHouse fell 0.5 per cent to $79.46 at 9:45 a.m. in New York. The shares had gained 16 per cent this year through June 27, compared with a 6.1 per cent advance for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. The company used JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Perella Weinberg Partners LP as financial advisers, while Winston & Strawn LLP served as legal adviser. Moelis & Co., Houlihan Lokey and BMO Capital Markets Corp. advised St. Paul, Minnesota-based Flagstone and Gryphon, with Kirkland & Ellis serving as legal counsel. Bloomberg, edited by ESM
