PepsiCo Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire Bare Snacks, Expanding Better-For-You Portfolio into Baked Fruit and Vegetable Snacks

PURCHASE, N.Y., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEP) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Bare Foods Co. (doing business as Bare Snacks), a U.S.-based maker of baked fruit and vegetable snacks. The transaction will expand the company's snacking portfolio and further deliver on its Performance with Purpose vision to offer consumers more positive nutrition options.

"For nearly a dozen years, PepsiCo has been committed to Performance with Purpose, our vision of making more nutritious products, while also reducing added sugars, salt, and saturated fat. Bare Snacks fits perfectly within that vision," said Indra Nooyi, chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo. "The Bare Snacks leadership team has done an outstanding job building a top-tier organization and a strong brand with authentic roots, and I couldn't be more excited to welcome Bare Snacks to the PepsiCo family."

Bare Snacks was founded in 2001 by a family-owned organic apple farm in Washington, that began selling packaged baked apple chips in local farmers' markets. Under its current leadership team, it has expanded steadily to become the leader in apple, banana and coconut snacks. It has recently expanded into vegetable chips and offers the industry's broadest assortment of baked crunchy fruit and vegetable chips.  Bare products are made from simple ingredients that are baked, not fried.  They are Non GMO Project verified, feature clean labels and are sold online and in natural and conventional retail channels across the United States.

"We are thrilled to work with the PepsiCo team to further our mission of bringing simplicity to snacking," said Santosh Padki, CEO of Bare Foods.  "With a shared passion for crunchy, better-for-you snacks, PepsiCo is the right partner to help bring our simply baked fruit and vegetable  snacks to even more consumers across the world and continue to grow our brand."

Upon closing, Bare Snacks will continue to operate independently from its headquarters in San Francisco with its leadership reporting into Frito-Lay North America, a division of PepsiCo.

"Bare premium baked fruit and vegetable chips are an exciting expansion of Frito-Lay's better-for-you snack offerings," said Vivek Sankaran, president and chief operating officer for Frito-Lay North America. "While we will continue to offer the current Bare Snacks product line, we look forward to working with the Bare Snacks team to deliver new, innovative options, and ultimately expanded distribution, to meet the ever-growing consumer demands for authentic and nutritious snacks."

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $63 billion in net revenue in 2017, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

At the heart of PepsiCo is Performance with Purpose – our fundamental belief that the success of our company is inextricably linked to the sustainability of the world around us. We believe that continuously improving the products we sell, operating responsibly to protect our planet and empowering people around the world enable PepsiCo to run a successful global company that creates long-term value for society and our shareholders. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.

About Bare Foods Co.

Bare Snacks® is the creator of delicious Snacks Gone Simple®, including bare® Apple Chips, Banana Chips, Coconut Chips, and new Beet Chips, Carrot Chips, and Sweet Potato Chips. Crafted using only real, whole-food ingredients, bare products help consumers enjoy truly good-for-you snacking any time of day. Bare Snacks is on a mission to create a snacking revolution nationwide, motivated by a founding philosophy of creating delicious snacks with simple ingredients and nothing artificial ever. To learn more, please visit www.BareSnacks.com, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest, or 'Like' us on Facebook.

PepsiCo Cautionary Statement
Statements in this release that are "forward-looking statements" are based on currently available information, operating plans and projections about future events and trends. Terminology such as "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "project," "anticipate," "will," or similar statements or variations of such terms are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such terms. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted in any such forward-looking statement. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: changes in demand for PepsiCo's products, as a result of changes in consumer preferences or otherwise; changes in, or failure to comply with, applicable laws and regulations; imposition or proposed imposition of new or increased taxes aimed at PepsiCo's products; imposition of labeling or warning requirements on PepsiCo's products; changes in laws related to packaging and disposal of PepsiCo's products; PepsiCo's ability to compete effectively; political conditions, civil unrest or other developments and risks in the markets where PepsiCo's products are made, manufactured, distributed or sold; the ability to protect information systems against, or effectively respond to, a cybersecurity incident or other disruption; damage to PepsiCo's reputation or brand image; failure to successfully complete or integrate acquisitions and joint ventures into PepsiCo's existing operations or to complete or effectively manage divestitures or refranchisings; loss of any key customer or disruption to the retail landscape, including rapid growth in hard discounters and the e-Commerce  channel; and other factors that may adversely affect the price of PepsiCo's publicly traded securities and financial performance.

For additional information on these and other factors that could cause PepsiCo's actual results to materially differ from those set forth herein, please see PepsiCo's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. PepsiCo undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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SOURCE PepsiCo