Bahrain’s Investcorp sells UK crisp brand Tyrrells

Bahraini investment firm Investcorp has announced the sale of UK brand Tyrrells Crisps, to US company Amplify Snack Brands for £300m ($392m).

The deal is Investcorp’s ninth European exit in 12 months and comes following its £100m acquisition of Tyrrells in August 2013.

The UK crisp brand, which was founded at Tyrrells Court Farm in Hampshire in 2002, more than doubled its sales and EBITDA under Investcorp’s ownership and increased its headcount by 70 per cent.

It has also acquired companies in Australia and German and expanded into other areas including popcorn, tortilla chips and vegetable crisps, according to the firm.

“Three years ago we saw the opportunity to export a fantastic domestic brand and that has been our focus, through two transformative acquisitions and by driving growth in the UK and many international markets,” said Investcorp executive chairman Mohammed Mahfoodh.

Tyrrells CEO David Milner, who will move to Amplify, said the firm was “in great shape for further international expansion” following the deal, which could see Tyrrells products launched in the US.

Investcorp has been very active in recent months with deals including the sale of GL Education to Levine Leichtman Capital Partners; the sale of CSIdentity to Experian; the flotation of Asiakastieto on Nasdaq Helsinki; the sale of Denmark’s Icopal to GAF and the sale of N&W to Lone Star Funds.

It has also made a number of acquisitions including European cyber security firm Coresec and Italian fashion brand Corneliana.

Read: Bahrain’s Investcorp to acquire majority stake in Italy’s Corneliani

Last month Abu Dhabi state investment firm Mubadala said it had agreed to buy a 20 per cent stake in Investcorp.

Read: Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala to buy 20% of Bahrain’s Investcorp