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Cadbury owner buys Clif Bar for almost $3 billion

Popular energy bar company that started as a grass roots

Mondelez International, the company that owns Cadbury, Toblerone, Oreo and Tang, will buy Clif Bar for US$2.9 billion.

Clif Bar got its start in 1990 when cyclist Gary Erickson finished a long bike ride and couldn’t bring himself to eat another of the energy bars he had. He decided he wanted to create a “better tasting bar made with nutritious, wholesome ingredients to sustain energy,” experimenting with different ingredients and recipes with his mother. He called the new creation Clif Bar after his father, Clifford, and within a few years the company’s organic products were a hit with triathletes and cyclists alike.

“The acquisition of leading on-trend brands CLIF, LUNA and CLIF Kid expands Mondelēz International’s global snack bar business to more than $1 billion, including its complementary and leading refrigerated snacking business Perfect Snacks in the U.S. and leading performance nutrition business Grenade in the U.K,” the company said in a release.

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Mondelez International will continue to run the business from its headquarters in Emeryville, Ca., and the company’s products will continued to be manufactured at facilities in Twin Falls, Idaho and Indianapolis, Indiana.

“Mondelēz International is the right partner at the right time to support Clif in our next chapter of growth,” said Sally Grimes, Chief Executive Officer, Clif Bar & Company. “Our purposes and cultures are aligned and being part of a global snacking company with broad product offerings can help us accelerate our growth while staying true to our deeply ingrained Five Aspirations – sustaining our people, planet, community, business, and brands – five bottom lines that have grounded our company since its founding and will remain our North Star going forward.”