By Abigail Summerville
(Reuters) -The owner of protein bar company BUILT Bar is exploring a sale that could value the Utah-based brand at more than $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The private company hired investment bank Houlihan Lokey for the sale process, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the process is confidential.
Houlihan Lokey and Built declined to comment.
The American Fork, Utah-based company sells protein “puff” bars that come in flavors like banana cream pie, sweet peach punch and s’mores.
Food companies and private equity firms have snapped up protein bars in recent years. Ferrero Group bought Power Crunch earlier this year, Bain Capital-backed 1440 Foods acquired FitCrunch last year, Mondelez acquired Clif Bar in 2022 and Mars bought KIND in 2020.
BUILT launched out of a small garage in Utah in 2018 and the bars are now sold online and in stores like Costco and CVS. Co-founder and CEO Nick Greer bought out his business partner a few years after the company launched.
(Reporting by Abigail Summerville in New York. Editing by Dawn Kopecki.)
