“The South’s Original Potato Chip” will soon be a part of a company out of Pennsylvania.
UTZ Quality Foods made a merger agreement, yesterday with the company that owns Golden Flake. Under the deal, Golden Enterprises will be operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of UTZ. Golden Flake says management and production of the southern chips will remain in Birmingham.
Shareholders of stock in Golden Enterprises with get $12 a share, plus assumption of debt – making the total deal worth about $135 million. The 30 day trading average of the stock has been $7.
UTZ is a privately held company, and the merger still has to undergo antitrust approval and other conditions — expected close in the 4th quarter of the year.
The Birmingham Business Journal had cited Golden as the 14th largest public company headquarted in Alabama. AL.com has noted that Pennsylvania based UTZ was the buyer of ZAPP’s potato chips in Louisiana in 2011 – ZAPP’s are still made in Gramercy, Louisiana, today.