US cereals firm Quaker Oats has stayed tight-lipped on the company’s reported interest in the Post cereals business.
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Reports in the US have linked Quaker Oats to Post, the third-largest cereals business in the country, which is believed to have been put up for sale by owner Kraft Foods.
A report in the Financial Times over the weekend claimed that first-round bids for the business would be submitted this week. The report cited PepsiCo, which owns the Quaker Oats cereals business, as a front-runner in the race for Post.
However, a spokesperson for Quaker Oats refused to be drawn on the reports. “It is our policy not to comment on rumours and acquisitions,” the spokesperson told just-food last night (24 September).
Kraft has also remained coy over the possible sale of Post. “”We don’t comment on rumour and speculation,” a spokesperson for Kraft North America said.
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By GlobalDataNevertheless, the Kraft spokesperson admitted: “In some cases, there’s more long-term shareholder value by existing a business, rather than investing in it. In evaluating, we look at growth potential, relative market share and profitability.”
One industry analyst flagged the possible sale of the Post business in July. Alexia Howard, an analyst at US bank Sanford C. Bernstein said Kraft could look to sell parts of its business in which it lags behind industry rivals.
“If I were in Irene’s (Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld) shoes, I’d look at the areas in which Kraft does not have a competitive advantage,” Howard told just-food.
“If you look across the Kraft portfolio, with its Post cereal business, it is a distant number three behind Kellogg and General Mills.”
