Exchange Offer Fully Subscribed and Subject to Proration
NORTHFIELD, Ill., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Kraft Foods Inc.
(NYSE: KFT) today announced the preliminary results of its exchange offer
related to the split-off of its Post cereals business and the closing of the
merger of its Post cereals business into a subsidiary of Ralcorp Holdings,
Inc. (NYSE: RAH).
Based on preliminary estimates of Kraft shares validly tendered and not
withdrawn, the exchange offer will be subject to a proration factor of
approximately 7.85%.
In this split-off transaction, Kraft shareholders had the option to
exchange their shares of Kraft common stock for shares of Cable Holdco, Inc.,
which prior to the merger with a Ralcorp subsidiary, was a wholly owned
subsidiary of Kraft that owned certain assets and liabilities of the Post
cereals business. With the completion of the merger of Cable Holdco and a
Ralcorp subsidiary, the Cable Holdco common stock was exchanged for shares of
Ralcorp common stock on a one-for-one basis. As a result, Kraft shareholders
that tendered their Kraft shares as part of the exchange offer now own 0.6606
shares of Ralcorp for each Kraft share exchanged.
Exchange Offer Results
Pursuant to the exchange offer, which expired at 8:00 a.m., New York City
time, this morning, Kraft announced that it has accepted 46,119,899 common
shares of Kraft for 30,466,805 shares of Cable Holdco.
The exchange agent preliminarily estimates that a total of 581,326,305
Kraft common shares were validly tendered and not withdrawn prior to the
expiration of the exchange offer, including 427,128,323 shares tendered
pursuant to guaranteed delivery procedures. The total shares tendered include
an estimated 533,776 Kraft shares tendered by odd lot shareholders not subject
to proration.
Kraft shares tendered but unexchanged due to proration will be returned to
tendering shareholders.
Kraft will not be able to determine the final proration factor until the
delivery of Kraft shares tendered by guaranteed delivery is completed, which
Kraft expects to be the close of business on August 6, 2008. Kraft will
publicly announce the final proration factor after it has been determined,
which may be different from today's preliminary estimate.
Because more than 46,119,899 Kraft common shares were tendered, all shares
of Cable Holdco common stock owned by Kraft will be exchanged in the offer,
and no Cable Holdco shares will be distributed as a pro rata dividend.
Closing of Post Cereal Merger with Ralcorp
In connection with the exchange offer, Kraft also announced the closing of
the merger of its Post cereals business into Ralcorp. As part of this
transaction, in addition to Kraft shareholders receiving 30,466,805 shares of
Ralcorp stock, Kraft also received approximately $960 million of
cash-equivalent value.
Kraft will account for the distribution of the Post cereals business as
discontinued operations beginning in the third quarter 2008. Kraft expects
earnings per diluted share to be adjusted downwards by approximately $0.07 per
diluted share on an annual basis as a result of this transaction.
ABOUT KRAFT FOODS INC.
For more than a century, Kraft (http://www.kraft.com) has offered
delicious foods and beverages that fit the way consumers live. Today, we are
turning the brands that consumers have lived with for years into brands they
can't live without. Millions of times a day in more than 150 countries,
consumers reach for their favorite Kraft brands, including nine with revenues
exceeding $1 billion: Kraft cheeses, dinners and dressings; Oscar Mayer meats;
Philadelphia cream cheese; Maxwell House coffee; Nabisco cookies and crackers
and its Oreo brand; Jacobs coffees; Milka chocolates; and LU biscuits. Kraft
is one of the world's largest food and beverage companies with annual revenues
exceeding $37 billion, more than 100,000 employees and more than 180
manufacturing and processing facilities globally. The company is a member of
the Standard & Poor's 500 index as well as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index
and Ethibel Sustainability Index.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding the
number of Kraft shares that have been tendered and accepted in the exchange
offer; the proration factor; when the delivery of Kraft shares tendered by
guaranteed delivery will be completed; the timing for release of final results
of the exchange offer; that we intend to account for the distribution of the
Post cereals business as discontinued operations beginning in the third
quarter 2008; and the effect on earnings per diluted share. These
forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those predicted in the forward-
looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, a change in
the number of shares tendered by Kraft shareholders and failure of Kraft
shareholders that tendered by guaranteed delivery to deliver these shares.
For additional information on these and other factors that could affect our
forward-looking statements, see our filings with the SEC, including our most
recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K/A and subsequent reports on Forms
10-Q and 8-K. We disclaim and do not undertake any obligation to update or
revise any forward-looking statements in this press release.
SOURCE Kraft Foods Inc.
CONTACT: Media, Lisa Gibbons, +1-847-646-4538, cec@kraft.com, or
Investors, Christopher M. Jakubik, +1-847-646-5494, ir@kraft.com, both of
Kraft Foods Inc.