ConAgra

[BRoss]

ConAgra buying Ralcorp for about $5 billion

ConAgra Foods is buying the private-label food maker Ralcorp for about $5 billion, which will make it North America’s biggest manufacturer of cereals, crackers and other packaged foods sold under store brands.

The deal caps a year of acquisitions for ConAgra, which makes Banquet, Chef Boyardee and Marie Callender’s. In the past year, the company also snapped up brands including National Pretzel, Bertolli frozen meals and Del Monte Canada.

...

The deal, which was unanimously approved by both companies’ boards, is expected to close by March 31, 2013. It still needs Ralcorp shareholder approval.

ConAgra said that the buyout should have a modest benefit on its fiscal 2013 financial results. The Omaha-based company still anticipates fiscal 2013 earnings in a range of $2.03 to $2.06 per share, excluding any benefit from the Ralcorp deal.

[NovakOmaha]

I'm curious what effect that will have on the ConAgra campus employment.  I can't really see an advantage to keeping a presence in leased space in an office building in St. Louis.

[nebugeater]

Maybe Hostess will be the next purchase.

[Brad]

Maybe Hostess will be the next purchase.

Then we can add a big Bronze Twinkee down next to Chef Boyardee

[iamjacobm]

Maybe Hostess will be the next purchase.

According to Ralcorp's wiki they used to own Wonder Bread and Twinkies before Hostess.

[bigredmed]

ConAgra has been in the list of companies in the hunt, but I have heard that a Mexican company is most likely.

[jessep28]

The Wall Street Journal is speculating that Flowers Foods, Bimbo and Pepperidge Farm are the three major bakers to be likely bidders for Hostess assets. To say that Bimbo sells Ho Ho's sounds pretty funny, so I kind of hope that they buy the Hostess brands.

[iamjacobm]

I'm curious what effect that will have on the ConAgra campus employment.  I can't really see an advantage to keeping a presence in leased space in an office building in St. Louis.

Looks like STL is hoping ConAgra will move all it's private label work to Ralcorp.  ConAgra CEO didn't close the door on it one way or the other.  350 jobs are out there for the taking Omaha, could be a nice splash if they decide to consolidate.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/column ... a0b8b.html

[NovakOmaha]

According to the ConAgra web site, the headquarters campus has 1,800 employees, with another 1,200 in other locations in the metro.  Naperville, Illinois houses 400 employees and Kennewick, Washington is the home of Lamb Weston potato with 600 employees.  Thus, it would not be out of the question to house the private label business in STL, given enough incentives and compelling reasons to do it.  I'm not sure I've seen enough compelling reasons yet.
In 1986 or 1987 STL tried to woo Mike Harper to move the headquarters there, or maybe he was just using it as a lever with the Nebraska legislature...
Either way, Omaha got rid of all those unsightly red brick buildings and got 'em a cement pond.

[jessep28]

Don't they have a small office in Florida too?

[iamjacobm]

ConAgra officials have said through this move they will have $225 million in cost synergy per year.  Certainly makes it sounds like moving or cutting jobs out of STL is in the cards.

[jessep28]

When executives start throwing the word synergy around, they mean business.

[Omababe]

cost synergy

Con Agr's terminology is certainly buzzword-compliant!

[iamjacobm]

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 2aacd.html

ConAgra Foods plans to keep about 500 employees in St. Louis following the food company's acquisition of St. Louis-based Ralcorp Holdings earlier this year.

[Garrett]

I've heard from a source that ConAgra laid off 330 people yesterday, and more are coming today.

[lmdramos]

From its Omaha office or other offices around the country?

[Garrett]

Everywhere, and there's an article about it now.

http://www.omaha.com/money/conagra-rest ... b2370.html

[iamjacobm]

ConAgra officials have said through this move they will have $225 million in cost synergy per year.  Certainly makes it sounds like moving or cutting jobs out of STL is in the cards.

Partly right, probably cut redundant positions.

I wonder what the total job count for Omaha will be then, them not mentioning a specific number for Omaha's "net gain" makes me think it will be rather minimal.

[lmdramos]

I remember reading about 15 new jobs in Omaha somewhere.

[Coyote]

Building VI, Floors 3 & 4 are getting a $500K makeover.

[Brad]

Building VI, Floors 3 & 4 are getting a $500K makeover.

Are those the buildings Gavilon vacated? I don't know the numbers. I took some photos there a couple years ago and I think I remember it being one of the buildings in the back towards the river.

[RNcyanide]

Building VI, Floors 3 & 4 are getting a $500K makeover.

Are those the buildings Gavilon vacated?  I don't know the numbers.  I took some photos there a couple years ago and I think I remember it being one of the buildings in the back towards the river.

No, that was CAG11, floor 2, at the southernmost building. I think 6 is in the middle.

[RNcyanide]

http://www.omaha.com/money/amid-tussle- ... 73689.html

Things don't sound too hot for ConAgra right now after JANA from New York took a stake in the company. The article details five possible paths the company could take to right itself. One of them includes being sold off in pieces.

[iamjacobm]

This is a bi one to keep an eye on. The Chamber should be in Jana's ear no matter what ends up happening to ConAgra.

[jessep28]

Most of these activist investors are out for a quick buck, and are not interested in a company's long term operational future. If ConAgra has a strong leadership team with a good relationship with the board, usually they can resist these corporate raiders.

For some interesting reading, here's a Harvard Business Review article on outsmarting activist investors. I think this is the same one which the OWH mentioned without citing.

https://hbr.org/2014/05/how-to-outsmart ... -investors

[mr. omaha]

ConAgra tore down Jobbers Canyon and they might end up leaving Omaha!?!?

[skinzfan23]

ConAgra tore down Jobbers Canyon and they might end up leaving Omaha!?!?

Thats what I was thinking...that better not happen.

[Louie]

How many total employees does ConAgra have?

[RNcyanide]

The article says nearly 2500 local employees.

[Louie]

Wow, if the company got sold off, that would be a huge loss for the city.

[jessep28]

Based on speculation, it seems that the Ralcorp acquisition from a few years ago and maybe some of ConAgra's brands may be split, but that doesn't mean the company is going to be gutted and sold off.

[Midwestern]

If ConAgra were to be sold off and jobs lost or shipped elsewhere, the bright side could be that we could potentially have an open slate for connecting our downtown back to our river and returning some of the street grid back to how it was. Getting rid of that campus has always been at the top of my Omaha wish list, although obviously I would prefer that ConAgra vacate the buildings and build their own DT or Midtown tower, but obviously that's not gonna happen, especially now with these new developments. But it would be so exciting to have a chance to re-connect to the river. If ONE company can make or break the success of your entire city then you are doing things very, very wrong. Period.

[RNcyanide]

They could also be a unique residential conversion.

[Omahan6301]

http://www.omaha.com/money/everything-i ... 0e9df.html

[iamjacobm]

Well sounding like this first round might have more impact on STL jobs, but the company is still sitting perilously. Going to be a big year for the company.

[bigredmed]

Well sounding like this first round might have more impact on STL jobs, but the company is still sitting perilously. Going to be a big year for the company.

I think the sale, if done correctly, could be a good thing for long term shareholder value. Not sure this ever made sense to me. By getting into private label, you are competing against yourself. Granted, you are trying to maintain shelf presence, but at a cost of per sale margin, and quality.

If they can get a decent price and not lose money on the purchase (which seems unlikely), they will come out stronger.

[Greg S]

For Omaha's sake, I hope their plan works.

Greg

[BRoss]

This doesn't seem to be a good sign:

Omaha members of ConAgra board are stepping down

The only two outside members of ConAgra Foods’ board of directors who live in Omaha are retiring from the board.

The departures of Mogens Bay, chairman and chief executive officer of Omaha-based Valmont Industries, and Ken Stinson, chairman emeritus of Peter Kiewit Sons’ Inc., come as ConAgra is under pressure from an activist investor that has pressed for changes.

Neither Bay nor Stinson was nominated for another term. They will retire from the board as of ConAgra’s annual meeting in September, the company said in a filing on Friday.

[bmt]

If ConAgra were to relocate how big of an impact would this have on downtown occupancy? Not only as far as available office space goes but also residential space with ConAgra employees that currently live downtown. There have to be quite a few employees that live dt right?

[ricko]

This doesn't seem to be a good sign:

Omaha members of ConAgra board are stepping down

The only two outside members of ConAgra Foods’ board of directors who live in Omaha are retiring from the board.

The departures of Mogens Bay, chairman and chief executive officer of Omaha-based Valmont Industries, and Ken Stinson, chairman emeritus of Peter Kiewit Sons’ Inc., come as ConAgra is under pressure from an activist investor that has pressed for changes.

Neither Bay nor Stinson was nominated for another term. They will retire from the board as of ConAgra’s annual meeting in September, the company said in a filing on Friday.

Not a good sign. It sounds to me like some bad business decisions were made and a major player wanted a few heads to roll. Con Agra is the second largest food conglomerate in the world (Nestle's is #1). One of the articles I'd read had a very telling paragraph about changing consumer tastes; people seem to be moving away from traditional brands, for various reasons. Having worked for both small companies and a few in the Fortune 500, I've become aware of some of the dynamics inherent in both. Small companies have the advantage of responding quickly to consumer demands, but they're not as well capitalized as large corporations. Large conglomerates, like any large bureaucracies, are slow to affect change, many lack "vision" and seem to be unable (or unwilling) to detect changes/trends in the market, and thus have difficulty staying ahead of the curve. Cronyism (especially regarding Boards and upper management) often trumps talent. Turf wars, careerism and office politics often seem more important than results oriented objectives and teamwork. This holds true in just about any industry. I hope, for Omaha's sake, that the company survives and remains in the area. I also wonder about the future of UP's coal division (but not so much the company's survival), since a sizable chunk of its declining revenue is tied up in hauling coal from the pit mines in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and elsewhere. Whether you like it or not, coal has no long term future as a source for generating electricity. Lastly, what becomes of Berkshire Hathaway after Warren is gone? I truly believe that Warren is B.H., and without his singular genius and talent for investing, it will flounder and eventually be sold off in pieces. I really hope I'm wrong.