Hawaiian Host has entered into an agreement to buy the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp from Hershey for an undisclosed sum.

Mauna Loa is a macadamia nut grower that has the capacity to produce around 40m pounds of macadamias annually. It will operate as a stand-alone subsidiary, the company said yesterday (14 January). No changes to staffing levels are planned.

The deal is expected to be finalised in the first quarter of 2015.

Hawaiian Host produces chocolate covered macadamia nuts.