US chocolate giant Hershey turns sour on taste of Tyrrells

The British crisps brand Tyrrells is heading for its third owner in little more than 18 months as it faces being ditched by its new American parent.

Sky News has learnt that Hershey, the US confectionery giant, is at the early stages of exploring options for Tyrrells, which was founded on a Herefordshire farm by William Chase 15 years ago.

Hershey is understood to be planning to handle the sale - if it decides to pursue one - itself.

An auction would come less than four months after the chocolate-maker bought Tyrrells' owner, Amplify Snack Brands (Frankfurt: 3AM.F - news) in a $1.6bn deal.

A decision to offload Tyrrells would represent something of a surprise, since a diversification away from confectionery and into the wider snacking market was seen as one of the key drivers of the Amplify takeover.

‎For a relatively young company, Tyrrells has already undergone an unusually large number of ownership changes.

It was initially backed by Langholm Capital, a private equity firm, before being sold to Investcorp, a Bahrain-based investor, in 2013.

Amplify then acquired the business in a deal reported to be worth £300m in 2016.

Sources said on Monday that Hershey was unlikely to command a price tag for Tyrrells which would recoup the money spent by Amplify 15 months ago.