R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. won the battle to acquire Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., a small player with an affluent following, announcing a definitive agreement to buy the firm for $340 million in cash.
Privately held Santa Fe, with $94 million in annual sales, had sparked a bidding war between No.2 U.S. tobacco company R.J. Reynolds and Canadian tobacco company Rothmans Inc., partly because of the appeal of its Natural American Spirit cigarettes.
