Our company announced in December that it's further growing its U.S. Snacks business by adding another popular cookie brand to its portfolio.

Kellogg announced that it is acquiring the trademarks and recipes of the Mother's Cake & Cookie Co., a regional brand in the western United States. Its cookie line-up includes iced animal crackers, sandwich cookies and wire-cut cookies.

"Mother's Cookies' brands are a complementary fit to our existing cookie portfolio," says President and CEO David Mackay in a press release issued today to announce the acquisition. "We will use our brand-building and innovation expertise, our understanding of the cookie category as well as our existing distribution infrastructure to grow the Mother's Cookies business."

U.S. Snacks plans to reintroduce many of Mother's Cookies most popular cookies back into stores in the West, where they have a loyal consumer following.
Mother's Cake & Cookie Co. was founded in 1914 by N.M. Wheatley, a newspaper vendor, in Oakland, Calif. A private equity firm, Catterton Partners, most recently owned the company, which filed for bankruptcy in early October. Kellogg acquired the trademarks and recipes through an auction in federal bankruptcy court.

"The bankruptcy auction turned out to be quite exciting, with Kellogg and several other food companies bidding head-to-head for the Mother's assets," says Gary Pilnick, Senior Vice President–General Counsel, Corporate Development and Secretary. "Our own Mike Libbing, who leads our Corporate Development team, did an excellent job representing Kellogg all the way through the process – including personally placing the winning $12.1 million bid."

Kellogg did not purchase any other assets of the company. As we reintroduce key items, Mother's Cookies products will be manufactured both by contract manufacturing partners and by our U.S. Snacks manufacturing network.

Expanding our Snacks business is a key part of Kellogg's focused business strategy, helping us to deliver sustainable growth. The closing is expected to be finalized Dec. 4.