Dean Foods To Buy Friendly's Ice Cream Retail & Manufacturing Unit For $155 Mln

(RTTNews) - Dean Foods Co. (DF) announced that it has agreed to acquire the manufacturing and retail ice cream business from an affiliate of Friendly's Ice Cream, LLC , a leading ice cream and dining brand in the Northeast U.S., for $155 million in cash.

Friendly's Ice Cream, with $166 million in net sales in 2015, is an iconic brand that produces popular packaged ice cream and other frozen dessert products, including single-serve sundae cups, novelty items, cakes and rolls. Friendly's distributes these products in over 8,000 retail outlets. Founded in 1935, the brand has a rich heritage and a long history of delighting consumers.

The acquisition of Friendly's Ice Cream is expected to be immediately accretive to margins and earnings, and Dean Foods expects that the acquisition will add approximately $0.06 earnings per share accretion in 2016. At closing, Dean Foods intends to fund the transaction with cash on hand and our existing revolving facilities.

In addition to acquiring Friendly's manufacturing and retail ice cream business, Dean Foods will acquire the Friendly's trademark as well as all intellectual property associated with the ice cream business. Friendly's Restaurants, a leading family-dining restaurant chain with over 260 locations in the U.S., will continue to be owned and operated by an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc. and will license use of the Friendly's trademark under a license agreement entered into as part of the transaction.

The transaction is expected to close late in the second quarter of 2016, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Following the close of the transaction, Friendly's Ice Cream will continue to operate out of its facility in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and the senior management team of Friendly's Ice Cream will continue to lead the business.