The common shares of the newly formed company – The Kraft Heinz Company – will begin trading on the NASDAQ under the symbol “KHC” today.
Kraft Heinz was formed following the merger of two food giants – Kraft Foods Group, Inc. and H.J. Heinz Company – per a deal announced in March this year.
The deal was backed by Brazilian private equity firm, 3G Capital, and billionaire investor, Warren Buffet. Heinz was jointly owned by 3G Capital and Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. BRK.B. The investment companies had acquired Heinz for $28 billion in 2013.
The Kraft Heinz Company also declared a cash dividend of 55 cents per share to be paid on Jul 31, 2015 to all stockholders of record as of Jul 27. This dividend will be paid instead of the one declared on Jun 22, 2015 by Kraft to its shareholders as of Jul 27, 2015. The earlier dividend would have been effective if the merger had failed to close by the given date.
The Kraft Heinz Company, which is the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world, intends to integrate the two businesses and create a new organizational structure.
Kraft Heinz’s board of directors will be headed by Alex Behring, Bernardo Hees will be in control as Chief Executive Officer and Paulo Basilio will act as the chief financial officer. Its senior leadership team is dominated by executives from Heinz.
The Kraft Heinz Company is co-headquartered in Pittsburgh and the Chicago area. While the Heinz brand business is headquartered in Pittsburgh, the Kraft brand business is headquartered in the Chicago area.
This merger will bring popular consumer food brands like Heinz, Kraft, Oscar Mayer, Ore-Ida and Philadelphia under one roof. Kraft Heinz owns eight billion dollar brands which are expected to garner approximately $28 billion in revenues.
Stocks to Consider
Some stocks in the Food-misc/diversified industry include Associated British Foods plc ASBFY, Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. CALM and Fufeng Group Limited FFNGY, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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