Diamond Foods Receives Clearance on Pringles Acquisition From U.K. Office of Fair Trading

Diamond Foods, Inc. today announced that it has received clearance from the United Kingdom’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) on its pending acquisition of the Pringles business from The Procter & Gamble Company.

The clearance by the OFT follows Diamond’s June announcement that the waiting period for U.S. antitrust review under the Hart-Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 for Diamond Foods’ pending acquisition of the Pringles business from The Procter & Gamble Company expired on June 20, 2011.

On April 5, 2011, Diamond Foods announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire the Pringles business from The Procter &Gamble Company in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction valued at $2.35 billion.

The transaction, expected to close by the end of this calendar year, is also subject to satisfaction of other conditions, including approval by Diamond’s stockholders.