Blue Apron Acquired by Wonder Group; Linda Findley and Marc Lore Comment
NEW YORK, NY - Blue Apron has been holding its weight as a major meal kit delivery provider, and now the company is making a big power play. It was announced that Blue Apron has entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by Wonder Group.
“By joining forces with Wonder, we continue to realize our vision of Better Living Through Better Food, and support how families and loved ones come together over food,” said Blue Apron President and Chief Executive Officer Linda Findley. “Wonder and Blue Apron deliver high-quality, chef-curated meals, making this a great match to offer more incredible mealtime experiences. The Blue Apron brand and products that our customers know and love will stay the same, with more opportunity for product expansion in the future. Further, the transaction delivers immediate and certain value for Blue Apron stockholders at a significant premium over recent trading prices.”
Blue Apron stockholders will be entitled to receive $13.00 in cash per share of Class A common stock through a tender offer, representing an equity value of approximately $103 million.
The acquisition is expected to create a leading platform for mealtime. The combination is expected to enhance both companies’ abilities to deliver chef-curated meals with high-quality ingredients to more customers. Wonder plans to continue Blue Apron’s current operations serving customers nationwide under the Blue Apron brand.
“Wonder is creating the mealtime super app, serving a broad range of occasions that feature cuisines from some of the world’s best chefs and restaurants while leveraging our culinary engineering and vertically integrated model,” said Wonder Founder and Chief Executive Officer Marc Lore. “At-home meals play a key role in this vision and have been on our strategic roadmap since the beginning. When the opportunity presented itself to unite with Blue Apron, pioneers in the meal kit industry, we knew it would accelerate our strategic position, create immediate opportunities for synergy, and most importantly, enable us to further delight customers by expanding the ways you can access and experience Wonder.”
Further details of the transaction and background on the transaction process will be included in the Company’s Schedule 14D-9 with respect to the tender offer.
We look forward to seeing what happens next with these impressive companies!