Golden Wonder sold in tasty deal

Crisps and snacks group Golden Wonder is to be sold to the owners of rival crispmaker The Snack Factory, it was announced today.

Longolf, which owns Skelmersdale-based Snack Factory, is buying the Golden Wonder business for an undisclosed sum from majority shareholder Bridgepoint Capital.

Bridgepoint Capital has been a large shareholder in Golden Wonder since the snack group was bought in a £156.5m (€246m) secondary buyout two years ago, and is thought to be more than doubling its money through today’s deal, industry sources say.

Golden Wonder is based in Market Harborough in Leicestershire, and operates from two manufacturing sites - Corby in Northamptonshire and Scunthorpe, employing 1,400 staff.

It makes Golden Wonder crisps, as well as the Nik Naks knobbly sticks and Wheat Crunchies tubular-shaped crisps.

Its cheesy Wotsits brand is being sold in a separate deal to rival Walkers.

The deal is subject to review by the UK's Office of Fair Trading, which is expected to take around six weeks.