Columnist sees desperation in latest round of food mergers

Bloomberg's Tara Lachapelle refers to Campbell Soup's intended purchase of Snyder's-Lance and Hershey's purchase of Amplify as "desperate-looking food deals." According to the column, both takeover targets are being valued at roughly 19 times their trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA, well above the median price in the last five years of 15 times EBITDA. On the upside, Ms. Lachapelle points to General Mill's 2014 purchase of Annie's as an example of how such mergers pan out "if you have the right ingredients."