Reuters: Post Holdings Explores Possible Lamb Weston Acquisition
According to sources cited in a Reuters report, Post Holdings has begun to explore acquiring Lamb Weston Holdings, while the frozen potato products processor faces increased pressure from activist investor Jana Partners to replace board members and executives to improve the company or put itself on the sales block.
Jana Partners reportedly owns more than 5% of Lamb Weston, and managing partner Scott Ostfeld penned a letter to the Lamb Weston board saying there was an “urgent need” for significant changes to fix the company or sell it while “strategic buyers are interested.”
According to the Reuters report, Post considered buying Lamb Weston in 2015, at which time Jana pressured then-owner Conagra to divest it — Lamb Weston became a publicly traded company a year later.
Sources told Reuters that a Post-Lamb Weston combination would benefit from “considerable synergies.” Post and Lamb Weston declined to comment to Reuters for the report, and Wall Street analysts have pointed to Cargill, Tyson Foods and Kraft Heinz as other hypothetical potential Lamb Weston buyers.
About the Author
Andy Hanacek
Senior Editor
Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.