Food Processing - November 2007 - (Page 9)

NEWS BITES IN THIS SECTION: • more executive heads roll • oscar mayer to stand alone • Kraft sells fruit o and Veryfine 2 • C O R P O R AT E F I N A N C E• Cadbury Schweppes will spin off U.S. beverages Bad U.s. credit market takes its toll on sale plans. With U.S. credit marketS not So Welcoming right now, cadbury Schweppes Plc, london, decided to spin off to shareholders its U.S. beverage unit instead of selling it, as the remainder of the company focuses on worldwide candy and gum. media reports said the maker of dr Pepper, 7-Up and Snapple shopped the businesses for seven months but could not find a buyer. “americas Beverages generates over 80 percent of its revenues and profits in the U.S., and its key peer group companies are also managed and listed there,” chairman John Sunderland and ceo todd Stitzer said in a joint statement. “the board has determined that it is in the best interest of shareowners to list the business on the new York Stock exchange through an issue of shares to existing shareowners.” they estimate that will take place in the second quarter of 2008. the business, which controls 15 percent of the U.S. soda market, accounted for about 35 percent of cad•MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS• bury’s 7.4 billion pounds ($15.1 billion) of sales in 2006. gil cassagne, who headed the unit, “has decided to resign for personal reasons to pursue other interests” after 25 years of service, the statement said. the americas Beverages unit will be led by larry Young, currently ceo of the bottling operation and formerly president/coo of Pepsi-cola general Bottlers. John Stewart continues as cFo. Some 470 jobs will be cut at americas Beverages at a cost of $71 million, which should also save the company $71 million a year from the reductions starting in 2008. cadbury, which may be the world’s largest candy maker, will focus on improving sales and margins at dairy milk chocolate and trident gum. “our third quarter confectionery performance has been particularly strong and we have made good early progress on actions to deliver margin improvement,” Stitzer said. SABMiller and Molson Coors to combine U.S. operations SaBmiller Plc and molSon coorS Brewing co. signed a letter of intent to combine the U.S. and Puerto rican operations of their respective subsidiaries, miller and coors, in a joint venture to be called millercoors. the new company will have estimated annual sales of 69 million U.S. barrels and sales approximating $6.6 billion. Pro forma combined profits are estimated at $842 million. the stated goal was “to compete more effectively in the increasingly competitive U.S. marketplace,” according to the joint statement. Pete coors, vice chairman of molson coors, will become chairman of millercoors. graham mackay, SaBmiller ceo, will serve as vice chairman. leo kiely, current ceo of molson coors, will be the ceo of the joint venture, and tom www.foodprocessing.com long, current ceo of miller, will be president and “chief commercial officer.” the deal apparently does not include operations outside of the U.S. and Puerto rico. SaBmiller and molson coors expect the transaction to generate $500 million in annual cost synergies to be delivered in full by the third full year of combined operations. SaBmiller and molson coors each will have a 50 percent voting interest in the joint venture and have five representatives each on its board of directors. Based on the economic value of the contributed assets, SaBmiller will have a 58 percent economic interest in the joint venture and molson coors will have a 42 percent stake. noVemBer 2007 food processing • http://WWW.FOODPROCESSING.COM

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Food Processing - November 2007 Contents Editor's Page NewsBites Regulatory Rollout Food Biz Kids Our Favorite Products of 2007 Ingredients Product Development Plant Operations Packaging New Product Profiles Toops Scoops

Food Processing - November 2007

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