Brands
PepsiCo acquires Bare Foods for $200M in a bid to provide healthy products
MUMBAI: A global snack brand started by an Indian, Bare Foods has been acquired by American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation, PepsiCo.
PesiCo has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the US snack company that is primarily into baked fruits and vegetable snacks. The transaction will expand the company’s snacking portfolio and further deliver on its vision to offer consumers more positive nutrition options.
PepsiCo chairman and chief executive officer Indra Nooyi says, “For nearly a dozen years, PepsiCo has been committed to our vision of making more nutritious products, while also reducing added sugars, salt, and saturated fat. Bare Snacks fits perfectly within that vision.”
Although both the companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but it is learnt that Pepsi will pay less than $200 million for the snack company.
She adds, ”The Bare Snacks leadership team has done an outstanding job building a top-tier organisation and a strong brand with authentic roots, and I couldn’t be more excited to welcome Bare Snacks to the PepsiCo family.”
Bare Snacks was founded in 2001 by a family owned organic apple farm in Washington, that began selling packaged baked apple chips in local farmers’ markets. Under its current leadership team, it has expanded steadily to become the leader in apple, banana and coconut snacks.
It has recently expanded into vegetable chips and offers the industry’s broadest assortment of baked crunchy fruit and vegetable chips (apple chips, banana chips, coconut chips, and new beet chips, carrot chips, and sweet potato chips). Bare products are made from simple ingredients that are baked, not fried. They are non GMO project verified, feature clean labels and are sold online and in natural and conventional retail channels across the US.
Bare Foods CEO Santosh Padki is thrilled to work with the PepsiCo team to further its mission of bringing simplicity to snacking. “With a shared passion for crunchy, better-for-you snacks, PepsiCo is the right partner to help bring our simply baked fruit and vegetable snacks to even more consumers across the world and continue to grow our brand,” he adds.
Upon closing, Bare Snacks will continue to operate independently from its headquarters in San Francisco with its leadership reporting into Frito-Lay North America, a division of PepsiCo.
Frito-Lay North America president and chief operating officer Vivek Sankaran thinks that Bare premium baked fruit and vegetable chips are an exciting expansion of Frito-Lay’s better-for-you snack offerings.
PepsiCo will continue to offer the current Bare Snacks product line while also working with the Bare Snacks team to deliver new, innovative options, and ultimately expanded distribution.
PepsiCo generated more than $63 billion in net revenue in 2017, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.
Brands
Infosys invests Rs 290 crore to expand Mohali development centre
New 350,000 sq ft facility to house 3,000 employees and boost AI work.
MUMBAI: In India’s tech corridors, even the skyline is beginning to look a little more digital. Infosys has begun expanding its development centre in Mohali with an investment of around Rs 290 crore, strengthening its presence in North India as demand grows for artificial intelligence and cloud driven enterprise solutions. The expansion project was marked by a groundbreaking ceremony attended by senior company leaders and officials from the Punjab government, according to a report by The Times of India.
The new development will include a dedicated software development block along with additional infrastructure to support the company’s growing operations.
Once completed, the facility will add approximately 350,000 square feet of built up space and is expected to accommodate around 3,000 employees. The expanded campus will support the development and deployment of large scale technology solutions across areas such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, application development and broader digital transformation programmes.
Infosys currently employs close to 1,000 professionals at its Mohali centre, where teams deliver digital services to global clients across industries including banking and financial services, retail and healthcare.
The expansion is also expected to strengthen the region’s technology ecosystem by generating new employment opportunities and increasing the availability of skilled talent in the area.
With the additional infrastructure, Infosys plans to expand its work on AI led enterprise solutions, while improving operational agility and enabling more flexible hybrid working arrangements for its workforce.
As companies around the world accelerate their digital transformation journeys, the expanded Mohali campus is expected to play a growing role in supporting enterprise clients adopting AI driven innovation and next generation technology platforms.
