Diamond Foods, Maker Of Emerald Nuts And Pop Secret, To Sell Company In Pieces

Diamond Foods — the company behind brands like Pop Secret popcorn, Emerald Nuts, Kettle Foods, and Diamond of California, another nut brand — is selling its company piece by piece, after failing to find a buyer for the whole company.

According to the New York Post, Diamond Foods will accept bids on units of the company through the middle of October.

The company, which is reportedly dealing with debt that amounts to five times the sum of its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), does not have the capacity to face off against its peers. Among the challenges the company faces is the ongoing California drought, which has made nuts more expensive, and profits margins smaller.

Over the summer, Diamond reportedly approached Mondelez — the major candy conglomerate behind Honey Maid, Nabisco, Trident, and several other brands — but "the process did not go very far," sources told the Post.

During an earnings call earlier this week, CEO Brian Driscoll said that Diamond Foods does not "have the kind of range that's ideal for where we want to take the company over time," but did not indicate how the company planned to change that.