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Strategies & Market Trends : Speculating in Takeover Targets -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jack Hartmann who wrote (441)	11/1/2004 10:09:19 AM
From: richardred	Respond to of 7239

Thanks Jack : BTW, You were right on Huffy. MY Huffy pick here didn't do so well. I underestimated the impact of sales to K_mart and the loss of a good portion of the Walmart business. The last acquisiton that Huf made put them under.(Chapter 11). A consolidation of sporting good manuf. and their drive to cut costs. A good reason for portfolio diversification. BTW/WCRX it might not be over WARNER CHILCOTT PLC (WCRX) Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and private-equity firm Carlyle Group are considering a $2.04 billion-plus counteroffer to halt the sale of the Irish Pharmaceutical company to a rival private-equity group, several U.K. newspapers said. Friday Close: $63.12 Net Change: Up 12 cents % Change: 0.2% Volume: 25,508 ADS

To: Jack Hartmann who wrote (441)	11/1/2004 10:21:41 AM
From: richardred	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7239

This company like Huffy overbought to load the balance sheet up with debt. This in light of the Atkins craze and miss management of it's brands. I feel strongly you might be right. IMO-It has some strong brand names to a would be buyer. Stronger players might bite. Pepsi/Fritio Lay division might take a look also. Although they might try to cherry pick in chapter 11 some good niche brands such as Hostess. They did the same when they picked up the Cracker Jack brand from Bordens.

To: Jack Hartmann who wrote (441)	11/18/2004 10:37:14 AM
From: richardred	Respond to of 7239

Jack-RE:Interstate Bakeries- Pepsi a buyer of a different brand today. Associated Press Snack Ventures Europe Buys Star Foods Thursday November 18, 10:18 am ET Snack Ventures Europe Buys Star Foods; Terms of Deal Not Disclosed PURCHASE, N.Y. (AP) -- Snack Ventures Europe, a joint venture of PepsiCo Inc. and General Mills Inc., on Thursday said it acquired Star Foods, a leading snack food maker and distributor in Romania. The companies did not disclose terms of the deal. The acquisition of Star Foods, a maker of potato chips and popcorn snacks, enters Snack Ventures into the Romanian snack-food market for the first time, the company said. Snack Ventures said Star Foods has a factory in Bucharest, and added that its distribution network is among the largest of consumer products companies in Romania. The joint venture sells snacks in Europe under popular brands from PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division, including Bugles, Doritos, Fritos, Lay's and Ruffles. In early trading, shares of PepsiCo rose 19 cents to $51.46, while General Mills added 1 cent to trade at $45.37 on the New York Stock Exchange. biz.yahoo.com

To: Jack Hartmann who wrote (441)	1/22/2006 11:13:04 PM
From: richardred	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 7239

Wonder Bread Will Unveil Whole Wheat Loaf Sunday January 22, 2:17 pm ET By J.M. Hirsch, Associated Press Writer Icon of Squishy American White Bread Turns Nutritional Corner in Offering Whole Wheat But will kids still be able to wad it up into sticky, glutinous balls and throw it across the cafeteria? Wonder Bread, that icon of squishy, oh-so-American white bread, turns a nutritional corner Monday with the launch of two whole wheat versions intended to look, taste and feel just like the spongy original. It's part of a plan to resuscitate Wonder Bread's baker, the bankrupt Interstate Bakeries Corp. -- also the maker of Hostess Twinkies -- which has struggled as consumers went from rejecting carbs outright to demanding they be whole grain. The launch comes as concerns about skyrocketing obesity rates and the preponderance of highly processed foods in the American diet (such as white bread) have fueled campaigns by government and health officials to get consumers to eat more whole grains. Stan Osman, vice president of marketing at the Kansas City, Mo.-based Interstate Bakeries, said his company aims to make it easier for people to do that by turning whole wheat into something more easily stomached by fans of white bread. "These are soft breads. They don't have any grains or stuff in them that you can see," he said recently. "You couldn't find anything in them. They don't have any toppings on them. They're very much like what you would expect from Wonder Bread." The change is made possible with white whole wheat flour, which has a milder taste, texture and color than traditional wheat, but a similar nutritional profile. The new breads contain 2 grams of fiber per slice; the original Wonder Bread has none. The new breads include Wonder White Bread Fans, which is 100 percent whole grain, and Wonder Made With Whole Grain White, which is part whole grain, part white flour. The company also is introducing Wonder Kids, a highly fortified white bread. Osman doesn't worry that consumers won't take whole grains seriously from a company defined by white bread, a term that has become a pejorative, and not just to those with carbohydrate phobias. "White bread America" isn't exactly a term of endearment. "The nutrition facts speak for themselves and I have to believe that the taste of the products, using the products, if anybody has that hurdle, it will get them past that," Osman said. He declined to discuss sales expectations. Others aren't so sure it's a good move. "Healthy Wonder Bread? That's an oxymoron," said Darra Goldstein, editor-in-chief of Gastronomica, a journal of food and culture. She said it sounds more like a marketing ploy than a good bread. "Whole grain is just such a buzz word that even a bread like Wonder Bread, the antithesis of everything that is natural" is going in that direction, she said. "They just want to make sure that people still continue to buy their bread." And going good-for-you might be overreaching for this brand, said Laura Shapiro, a food historian. Wonder Bread is what it is, a white bread destined for peanut butter and jelly and never to be mistaken for health food. "It kind of encapsulates every single movement in this country," she said. "The yen for health with the yen for junk. The desire to eat bread, with the desire not to eat bread. They're trying to get everything." But American Dietetic Association spokesman David Grotto welcomes the new breads. After too many years of trying to get consumers to adapt their tastes to whole wheat, he says it's about time the product adapted to the consumer. "For the general public this is a nice, kind of covert way of introducing whole grains and not beating them over the head," he said. But will kids eat it? Deborah Venator, a Concord, N.H., mother of four volunteered her children to taste test the new whole grain breads up against the original. They normally eat another brand's half whole wheat, half white loaf. The original was an instant hit -- "It tastes kind of fluffy," declared 6-year-old Grace. But interest waned as the other two breads were introduced. "I don't want to eat the rest," she said after taking a bite of the half whole wheat version of Wonder. And 4-year-old David? "I want more of the first bread." But more important to some kids than eating the bread, can they still ball it up? "I would stand in the door and not let this go out if we were going to take away that joy from people," Interstate Bakeries' Osman said. "I have been know to throw my own at somebody. Yes, they will still be able to do that. You can count on that." biz.yahoo.com pinksheets.com

To: Jack Hartmann who wrote (441)	11/20/2012 1:19:23 PM
From: richardred	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 7239

Hostess Brands May Not Survive But Iconic Twinkie Will By Morgan Korn \| Daily Ticker – 1 hour 14 minutes ago Twinkie fans may soon have reason to rejoice. The iconic junk food snack could return to store shelves if the Hostess, maker of the Twinkie, Wonder Bread, Ho Ho's and Ding Dongs brands, and private equity firm Sun Capital Partners agree to a deal. According to Dan Primack, a senior editor at Fortune.com, Sun wants to buy the 82-year-old bankrupt company and even expressed interest in an acquisition of Hostess Brands earlier in the year. Hostess announced last week that it would enter liquidation because of a nationwide strike by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Union. Hostess Brands CEO Gregory Rayburn said the strike had halted production at two-thirds of the company's factories across the country. BCTGM union members went on strike Nov. 9 to protest wage and benefit cuts that Hostess was seeking to slash operating expenses. Hostess management decided to lay off nearly all of its 18,500 employees and shut down its factories; product shipments would continue until the remaining supply runs out. The beleaguered Hostess Brands faced serious financial pressure before the union strike. The company had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January. On Monday Hostess, at the urging of Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain of the Southern District of New York, agreed to enter private mediation with its lenders and union leaders to prevent liquidation. Primack says in an interview with The Daily Ticker that "there's plenty of blame" to be shared for the company's demise. Related: America's Newest Billionaire: Chobani Yogurt's CEO If Sun were to acquire Hostess, Primack says the firm would likely keep the majority of Hostess' employees as well as reinvest in the company's manufacturing infrastructure. Any deal between Sun and Hostess would have to be approved by union leaders, Primack notes. But whether it's Sun or another snack maker that buys Hostess, it appears likely that the Twinkie brand will survive the recent turmoil. "In a year or two there will still be a Twinkie in the super market," Primack says. finance.yahoo.com