By Annie Gasparro And Chelsey Dulaney 

Post Holdings Inc. announced a $1.15 billion acquisition to expand in a business many companies have been trying to diversify away from: breakfast cereal.

The maker of Fruity Pebbles and Honeycomb on Monday said it would buy MOM Brands Co., a privately held company best known for selling lower-priced cereals including Berry Colossal Crunch and Honey Buzzers that are often similar to bigger, better-known brands.

The move comes as Post and other breakfast-cereal makers including larger rivals Kellogg Co. and General Mills Inc. have been grappling with changing eating habits of Americans that have driven down overall sales for breakfast cereal. Americans in recent years have been shifting breakfast consumption toward lower-carbohydrate breakfasts that they can consume on the go.

In that environment, cereal companies have been gobbling up companies in other food categories--including Post, which since its spinoff from Ralcorp Holdings Inc. in 2012, has bought brands that make peanut butter, pasta and other items. Last year, Post acquired PowerBar energy bars and Michael Foods Inc., which makes All Whites egg whites and Crystal Farms dairy products in an effort to tap into the high-protein trend.

But Post said sales of cereal sold in bags--as MOM's brands often are--instead of the usual boxes, have risen 5.6% annually in the past four years, based on Nielsen data. MOM also sells Mom's Best, a line of boxed cereal that markets itself as affordable, environmentally friendly, and free of artificial flavors, preservatives, and other ingredients disliked by increasingly health-conscious consumers.

"For Post, this is the right move, at the right price, in the right category," Post Chief Executive Rob Vitale said. "After a century of spirited rivalry between MOM Brands and Post, we now look forward to combining our strengths."

MOM started nearly 100 years ago making Malt-O-Meal and has remained owned by the founder's family. The company, which changed its named to MOM in 2012, now sells 11 brands of hot and cold cereals, some of which resemble popular boxed cereals, like its Frosted Mini Spooners and Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats.

The deal came as Post on Monday also gave preliminary financial data for its latest quarter, which ended in December, that beat expectations--thanks in part to strong sales of cereal, as well as in its egg, cheese and potato segments.

Post's shares soared 17.8% on the announcements to $48.83 in 4 p.m. trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The St. Louis-based company, which has a market value of about $2 billion at its current share price, said it would fund the purchase by selling $240 million in stock and borrowing $700 million, in addition to using cash on hand. Under the terms of the deal, Post will pay MOM $1.05 billion in cash and issue its owners 2.45 million shares of Post stock.

The deal, expected to close by the third quarter, moves Post closer to its cereal rivals, behemoths Kellogg and General Mills, which together have some 65% of ready-to-eat cereal sales in the U.S. With MOM, Post would have about 18%, it said.

Kellogg and General Mills have lamented the struggles with selling cereal in the U.S., trying everything from bringing back nostalgic brands, upping innovation and adding protein and trendy grains to classics like Cheerios. Still, Kellogg says it expects cereal consumption in the U.S. to decline again this year.

Write to Annie Gasparro at annie.gasparro@wsj.com and Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com

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