Food maker Kraft Foods Inc. said Wednesday it has begun an exchange offer for the sale of its Post cereals business to a subsidiary of private-label food maker Ralcorp Holdings.
Under terms of an agreement reached in November, Kraft will first split off or spin off Post and its assets to shareholders through a subsidiary called Cable Holdco. The Post cereals business will then be combined with Ralcorp.
In the split-off piece of the deal, Kraft said its shareholders will be able to exchange some or all of their Kraft shares and receive shares of stock in Cable Holdco.
The Cable Holdco stock will then be immediately exchanged for shares of Ralcorp on a one-for-one basis following the merger of Cable Holdco and a Ralcorp subsidiary.
Kraft said Kraft shareholders will own up to 0.6613 shares of Ralcorp for each Kraft share exchanged.
The exchange offer will expire on Aug. 4 and will coincide with the closing of the Ralcorp deal.
As a result of the offer, Kraft said the number of its outstanding shares will be reduced.
Kraft said about 30.5 million shares of Cable Holdco will be offered in exchange for Kraft common stock.
Once the deal is complete, Kraft shareholders are expected to own about 54 percent of the new Ralcorp with Ralcorp shareholders owning about 46 percent.
Kraft Foods shares rose 29 cents to close $29.25. Ralcorp shares rose 6 cents to $50.74 in after-hours trading. During regular trading, Ralcorp shares fell $1.32 to close at $50.68.
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