Mergers and Acquisitions

Posted on April 19, 2017

Big Fish Being Eaten by Bigger Fish

Touch the Soil News #676 (feature photo – CCA SA 4.0 International) The Food Chain is always an interesting place to learn about money, economics and the world we live in. The Big Fish: Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen was founded in 1972. The company grew and grew until it had over 2,600 restaurants in 40 states and over 30 countries. It was a big employer too, with around 130,000 employees before a bigger fish swallowed it for $1.8 billion. The Bigger Fish: Restaurant Brands International (RBI) bought Popeyes for $1.8 billion. RBI owns Burger King and Tim Hortons in Canada- which together had over 20,300 restaurants. The new company is…

Posted on April 17, 2017 April 17, 2017

Goodby WhiteWave

Touch the Soil News #675 (feature photo CCO 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication) Most of us have never heard of WhiteWave Foods from Colorado. That’s because it is a “parent” company of many different brands. It is the brands we are familiar with, not the ownership and the backroom gamesmanship. WhiteWave was born out of a spin-off from Dean Foods in 2012. So, over the past five years, WhiteWave has been like a snowball rolling downhill and accumulating everything in sight. WhiteWave ultimately owned all of these brands: Earthbound Organics (largest organic farm in the USA) Horizon Organic (think Horizon organic milk) Silk brand soy milk Wallaby Organic Yogurt International…

Posted on March 21, 2017

When Big Capital Speculates

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Touch the Soil News #654 (Feature photo – CC SA 3.0) While we call it the food chain, make no mistake the primary focus of food-chain giants is not food. It’s about how much money we can take out of the food businesses. After many years of consolidating, the stores of Albertson’s, Safeway, SuperValu, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Lucky, Shaw’s, Skaggs, Seeessel’s, Bruno’s, Smitty’s, Buttrey Food and Drug and Star Market have all been acquired into one company now called Albertsons Companies, Inc. Albertsons Companies Inc. is owned by a capital management firm called Cerberus. News leaked out recently that Albertsons Companies Inc. is looking at buying Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (Sprouts)…

Posted on January 16, 2017

History’s Largest Agriculture Mergers Set for 2017

Touch the Soil News #598 (feature photo Rosalee Yagihara CC 2.0) You’ve probably heard bits and pieces of the mega mergers unfolding amongst GMO seed, crop and chemical giants. No doubt that as these mega-mergers strive for completion, there will be global protests around the world. 1) Late in 2016, Monsanto stockholders approved the merger with Bayer AG of Germany. Bayer is to pay $66 billion for Monsanto – creating a GMO and agricultural chemical giant. 2) The Dow Chemical and Dupont merger will create another GMO seed and agricultural chemical giant. At the core of the rationale for merger is an expected synergy of $3 billion a year…

Posted on September 14, 2016 September 14, 2016

$66 billion Check for one of the World’s Most Hated Companies?

Touch the Soil News #492 (feature photo: John Novotny CC 2.0) It is official, Monsanto has accepted an offer – by Bayer of Germany – to acquire Monsanto. Normally, mega companies often trade or exchange stock when merging. However, this deal is totally in cash – the biggest cash deal in human history. We got our hands on the official press release from Bayer (a German company famous for the Bayer aspirin). A large portion of Bayer’s operations are, however, in agricultural chemicals. The boards of directors of both companies have agreed to the deal – now it needs stockholder approval and the approval of regulators in Germany and the…

Posted on August 31, 2016 August 31, 2016

Will Hershey Chocolate Survive Financial Staging?

Touch the Soil News #478 Over the past three (3) months, Hershey has been wrestling with an unsolicited takeover bid by Mondelez. Mondelez is one of the world’s largest snack companies with brands like Oreo Cookies. As fate would have it, 81 percent of the voting shares in Hersheys are controlled by the Hershey Trust and the Trust does not want to sell. Frustrated, Mondelez just announced that it would stop its unsolicited attempts at buying Hershey. However, the Hershey Trust has been under investigation for improper management of funds, and is being forced to restructure its board of directors. A year from now, the new Hershey Trust board may…

Posted on July 27, 2016 July 28, 2016

The Titans of Chemical/GMO Agriculture – Who Are They? (Part 2 of 2)

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Touch the Soil News #447 (Feature Photo: Orin Hargraves – CC 2.0) What we are about to discover here, has more impact on the food chain and who is able to afford food than virtually any other power. It supersedes the power of the executive officers of the corporations who run the 7 top chemical/GMO companies in the world (see News#446). It can rival the power of the Federal Government and Federal Regulators. The pending merger between the Dow Chemical Company and the DuPont Company provides perspective. In reviewing the merger, the message is not one of criticism of Dow or DuPont. As we will explore, these two companies are…

Posted on July 27, 2016 July 28, 2016

The Titans of Chemical/GMO Agriculture – Who Are They? (Part 1 of 2)

Touch the Soil News #446 (Feature Photo: Orin Hargraves – CC 2.0) One trend is clear around the world, people are more concerned about chemical agriculture and the GMO crops that drive chemical use. Today there are seven (7) big players in the agricultural chemical / GMO industry. They are: Syngnta (Swiss) – annual sales $13.4 billion, 28,704 employees Monsanto (USA) – annual sales – $15 billion, 25,500 employees DuPont (USA) – annual sales – $25.3 billion, 52,000 employees ChemChina – annual sales – $42 billion, 140,000 employees Dow Chemical Company (USA) – annual sales – $48.8 billion, 51,635 employees Bayer AG (Germany) – annual sales – $51 billion, 116,800…