Campbell Soup to buy snacks maker Snyder's-Lance for $4.87 billion

(Reuters) - Campbell Soup Co (NYSE: CPB) will buy Pretzels and Cape Cod chips maker Snyder's-Lance Inc (NASDAQ: LNCE) for $4.87 billion as it looks to expand its snack business amid sagging soup sales.

Campbell said on Monday it would pay Snyder's shareholders $50 per share in cash.

The offer represents a 27 percent premium to Snyder's close on Wednesday, a day before CNBC first reported it had hired an investment bank to weigh a potential sale following an approach from Campbell.

The equity value of the deal is based on 97.46 million outstanding Snyder shares, according to Thomson Reuters data. Including debt the deal is valued at about $6 billion.

Campbell said it plans to finance the acquisition through a combination of long- and short-term debt of $6.2 billion.

Credit Suisse acted as lead financial adviser to Campbell in this transaction. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP acted as Campbell's legal counsel.

Goldman Sachs & Co LLC acted as lead financial adviser to Snyder's-Lance and Jenner & Block LLP acted as its legal counsel.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

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