HJ Heinz announces plans to buy Kraft to build $28B food giant

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Some of the most-familiar names in ketchup, pickles, cheese and hot dogs are set to come under the same roof after H.J. Heinz Co. announced plans Wednesday to buy Kraft and create one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies.

The deal would bring together an array of longtime staples in American kitchens, including Oscar Mayer lunchmeats, Jell-O desserts, Miracle Whip spreads, Ore-Ida potatoes and Smart Ones diet foods.

The combination of the two companies — each more than a century old — was engineered by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital, which teamed up just two years ago to buy Heinz. While shoppers are not expected to see any major changes, the creation of The Kraft Heinz Co. reflects the pressures facing some big packaged-food makers in the U.S.

As consumers increasingly migrate away from popular packaged foods in favor of options they consider less processed, companies including Campbell Soup, General Mills and Kellogg have been slashing costs or striking deals to update their products offerings. The Heinz-Kraft deal is in many ways just the latest example of that, although Buffett noted that the two companies still have a strong base of customers.

“I think the tastes Kraft and Heinz appeal to are pretty enduring,” he said in a telephone call to the business news channel CNBC.

Still, the early plans outlined by Kraft and Heinz executives in a conference call Wednesday focused largely on the savings that would be achieved through the deal, rather than the potential for sales growth in North America. They said they expect to save $1.5 billion through moves such as combining manufacturing and distribution networks.

James Angel, an associate professor of finance at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, said that likely will result in job losses.

The boards of both companies unanimously approved the deal, which still needs a nod from federal regulators and shareholders of Kraft Foods Group Inc. The companies say they expect the deal to close in the second half of the year.

If the agreement goes through, Kraft is expected to undergo cost-cutting under the management of 3G Capital, which is known for running tight ships.

John Cahill, who took over as CEO of Kraft late last year, noted that the new management would drive a “much leaner organization,” as was the case when 3G took over Heinz. He said 3G can “make this happen deeper and faster.”

The two companies also see potential in pushing their products more aggressively overseas. Since splitting from Mondelez in 2012, Kraft’s business has been concentrated primarily in North America. But executives noted that Kraft’s brands are well known in major markets around the world, including the United Kingdom, Mexico, China and Brazil.

Already, Heinz gets 61 percent of sales from outside North America, said Bernardo Hees, the CEO of Heinz and a partner at 3G Capital who will become head of the newly created company.

The deal came together rapidly, Buffett said, having been in the works for about four weeks. The new company will be co-headquartered in Pittsburgh, where Heinz is based, and the Chicago area, home of Kraft, and will have annual revenue of about $28 billion.