The Ferrero Group of Companies announced their decision to acquire the cookie, fruit and fruit-flavored snack, ice cream cone and pie crust businesses from Kellogg Company for $1.3 billion. Last year, Kellogg’s aforementioned businesses generated sales of approximately $900 million.

Ferrero will acquire some well-known bestsellers in the cookie category, including the iconic cookie brand Keebler®, top-selling on-the-go Famous Amos® cookies, the premium family cookie brand Mother’s®, and Murray® sugar-free cookies, as well as Little Brownie Bakers®, the supplier of cookies to the Girl Scouts.

The company will also acquire the Kellogg fruit snacks business, including Stretch Island® and Fruity Snacks along with Keebler’s® ice cream cones and pie crust products.

Ferrero has acquired numerous brands and businesses in the U.S market since 2017, and with this deal, will enter into new strategic product categories and will strengthen its position yet again in the North American market.

They will also acquire Kellogg’s six owned U.S. food manufacturing facilities located across the country in Allyn, Washington, Augusta, Georgia, Florence and Louisville Kentucky, and two plants in Chicago, Illinois; as well as a leased manufacturing facility in Baltimore, Maryland.

“With this transaction, I look forward to bringing many iconic Kellogg brands into the Ferrero portfolio, to welcoming our new colleagues to the extended Ferrero community, and to continuing Ferrero’s strong track record of growing brands, as we have through our successful acquisitions of Fannie May, Ferrara Candy Company, and the former Nestlé U.S. confectionery business. We have great respect for Kellogg, it’s legacy and values, and are proud that Kellogg has chosen Ferrero as a good home for these businesses,” said Giovanni Ferrero, Executive Chairman of the Ferrero Group.

The transaction, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, is expected to close in the second half of the year.

JP Morgan Securities plc and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP served as advisors to Ferrero.