Conagra buying frozen food giant Pinnacle for $8.2 billion
- Dan Primack, author of Axios Pro Rata
Conagra Brands on Wednesday said it has agreed to buy Pinnacle Foods (NYSE: PF), whose brands include Bird's Eye and Vlasic, for around $8.2 billion in cash and stock (not including assumed debt).
Why it's a big deal: Because it's reflective of how legacy food companies are hoping that increased size can help offset changing consumer tastes.
Terms: The deal works out to $68 per share, a 23% premium to where Pinnacle was trading before activist investor Jana Partners disclosed a 9.5% equity stake and began pushing for a sale. Pinnacle shareholders will receive $43.11 per share in cash and 0.65 shares of Conagra common stock, and would hold around a 16% stake in the combined company.
More from Bloomberg: "The pressure on packaged-food makers to get bigger has intensified in the aftermath of Whole Foods' sale last year to Amazon. Frozen food, however, is considered relatively resistant to Amazon’s push to get shoppers to buy more groceries online because they’re tricky to deliver."