November 25, 2003

 

 

ConAgra Completes Sale Of Chicken Processing Operations

 

Today ConAgra Foods, Inc., home of many famous consumer food brands, completed the previously announced divestiture of its chicken processing business to Pilgrim's Pride. This divestiture is part of ConAgra Foods' ongoing plan to reshape its portfolio to focus on its branded and value-added food businesses.

 

Transaction Details

 

For its chicken business, ConAgra Foods received:

 

--  $300 million in cash, and

 

--  More than 25 million shares of Pilgrim's Pride stock. The

     marketing of these shares is subject to an agreement in which

     one-third can be sold one year after closing, another third

     can be sold two years after closing and the remaining third

     can be sold three years after closing.

 

The sale price was based on the $545 million book value of the chicken business at the time of closing. ConAgra Foods noted that the cash portion of the sale price was greater than it originally estimated, and it is providing no debt financing as part of this deal.

 

Bruce Rohde, chairman and chief executive officer of ConAgra Foods, commented, "This closing represents another important step to improve the strength and consistency of our earnings by focusing on businesses with higher margin opportunities."

 

Additional details regarding this announcement are posted in a question-and- answer document located on the company's Web site, www.conagrafoods.com, in the Investor's section.

 

ConAgra Foods, Inc. is one of North America's largest packaged food companies, serving consumer grocery retailers, as well as restaurants and other foodservice establishments. Popular ConAgra Foods consumer brands include: ACT II, Armour, Banquet, Blue Bonnet, Brown 'N Serve, Butterball, Chef Boyardee, Cook's, Crunch 'n Munch, DAVID, Decker, Eckrich, Egg Beaters, Fleischmann's, Gulden's, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt's, Kid Cuisine, Knott's Berry Farm, La Choy, Lamb Weston, Libby's, Lightlife, Louis Kemp, Lunch Makers, MaMa Rosa's, Marie Callender's, Manwich, Orville Redenbacher's, PAM, Snack Pack, Swiss Miss, Van Camp's, Wesson, Wolf, and many others.

 

Source: ConAgra Foods, Inc.