Cross-border buyers target undervalued US food companies

Family-owned food companies are stocking up on US snack companies, which are warming to the idea of private backers – many of them overseas – that can ​help them weather the storm in the supermarket aisles.

Last week, Hanover, Pennsylvania-based potato chip maker Utz (UTZ.N) agreed to be taken private by Germany’s ‌Intersnack Group along with Utz’s founding families. The nearly $3 billion transaction marks the first US deal for Intersnack, a subsidiary of family-owned food conglomerate Pfeifer...