US-based snacks maker Second Nature Brands is to buy JM Smucker’s Voortman cookies brand in an all-cash deal valued at $305m.

JM Smucker sells zero-sugar cookies and wafer cookies for the North American market under the Voortman Bakery brand.

The deal includes the brand, its manufacturing site under lease in Ontario and approximately 300 employees.

JM Smucker attained Voortman when it acquired US snacks business Hostess Brands last year for $5.6bn. Hostess bought Voortman in 2019 for $320m.

According to JM Smucker, the Voortman cookies brand generated net sales of approximately $65m in the fiscal year ending 30 April 2024.

For fiscal year 2025, the company expects the brand to make around $150m in net sales.

The acquisition of Voortman is the second time Second Nature Brands has bought a brand from JM Smucker. Last year, the company, owned by private-equity firm CapVest, snapped up Sahale Snacks from JM Smucker.

Voortman cookies changing hands is part of JM Smucker's moves to "optimise its portfolio and reallocate resources to its core growth brands", the company said.

Second Nature anticipates its acquisition of Voortman will drive its annual sales beyond the $500m mark. Michigan-based Second Nature Brands' portfolio of brands also includes Kar’s Nuts, Second Nature Snacks, Sanders and Brownie Brittle.

Announcing the Voortman deal, Second Nature Brands CEO Victor Mehren said: “This strategic and transformative acquisition fits perfectly into our better snacking and treating portfolio of brands. The acquisition of Voortman broadens our scale within the cookie category and unlocks new opportunities and capabilities for future growth in the US and Canada.”

JM Smucker plans to use the net proceeds from the transaction to reduce debt. The deal is anticipated to close in the third quarter of the fiscal year ending 30 April 2025.

Mark Smucker, JM Smucker's president and CEO, said: "This decision reflects our continued commitment to portfolio and resource optimisation to focus on our largest growth opportunities as a company.

"The divestiture of the Voortman brand is an important step in our integration plans that will enable the execution of our sweet baked snacks strategy through dedicated focus and ongoing investments in the Hostess brand, advancing our leadership in the sweet baked goods category."

TD Cowen analyst Robert Moskow, who covers the publicly listed JM Smucker, said the deal for Voortman cookies was "disappointing", pointing out the company had sold the brand for less than Hostess had paid.

"Smucker is divesting Voortman because they want to narrow their focus to leading brands in big categories. But we find it strange that a business combination like this with proven synergies and commercial success is now considered off-strategy by the next owner," Moskow said. "It is particularly unnerving to see Smucker part with the business at a price $15m below what Hostess paid for it, even though the sales are 56% higher."