• by Steve Ellwanger , November 28, 2022

CPG company Post Holdings is in the market for more acquisitions.

The news comes as Post divests its 80.1% stake in nutrition-products marketer BellRing Brands, which the company spun off in a 2019 public stock offering.

In Post’s recent Q4 earnings presentation, president and CEO Rob Vitali said the company is looking for more acquisitions following last year’s purchases of private label cereal manufacturer TreeHouse Foods and the Peter Pan peanut butter brand.

“Post is an advantaged buyer in a challenging financing environment and we welcome all opportunities,” Vitali told financial analysts on an earnings call.

While there’s no deadline for potential deals, Post has about six months to fulfill its plan to partner with another company via the Special Purpose Acquisition Company called Post Holdings Partnering Corporation (PHPC).

In February of 2021, Post announced that PHPC planned to raise $400 million in a public stock offering.

“PHPC intends to partner with a company in the consumer products industry that complements the experience and expertise of Post’s management team and is a business to which Post’s management believes it can add value,” Post said at the time.

On this month’s earnings call, Vitali said, “We have until May to identify an attractive partner for a business combination” with PHPC.

While the Post Consumer Brands segment—consisting of ready to eat cereals and Peter Pan—posted Q4 net sales growth of 12.6%, volume increased by 2.2%.

“We are starting to see some trade down to private label in North American cereal,” Vitali said.

Last week, Post said it would divest the 80.1% stake in BellRing Brands has held since the 2019 spinoff of what was then known as Post’s Active Nutrition Business.