Investopedia: ConAgra And Ralcorp - If You Can't Beat Them...

Everybody knows the old expression, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em". Apparently ConAgra (NYSE:CAG) is taking a different strategy - "if you can't beat 'em, quit and try something else". With ConAgra publicly making a bid for Ralcorp (NYSE:RAH), it would seem that this large Nebraskan packaged food company is content to cede the field to the likes of Kellogg (NYSE:K), Heinz (NYSE:HNZ), Kraft (NYSE:KFT) and General Mills (NYSE:GIS) in branded foods and focus much more closely on private label and value-oriented products. 


The Deal That May Be
A deal between ConAgra and Ralcorp has been running through the rumor mill for a little while now, with Ralcorp recently mentioning that it had declined an unsolicited proposal while also preannouncing better-than-expected quarterly results. Clearly there was a not-so-subtle message here - namely, "we're improving quite well on our own, thanks".

Nevertheless, ConAgra has decided to go public with an offer of $86 per share in cash for Ralcorp. Not only does that represent a 32% premium to the pre-speculation price of Ralcorp, it also represents a sweetening of $4 per share from ConAgra's prior offer. 



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