DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Private-label foods maker Ralcorp Holdings Inc. (RAH) yet again
rejected a raised, unsolicited takeover offer from ConAgra Foods
Inc. (CAG), a bid now worth $5.18 billion.
Ralcorp shares were up 8.8% at $86 at one point in after-hours
trading before settling at $83.87.. ConAgra's weren't active.
In a release, Ralcorp said ConAgra's latest bid, at $94 a share
in cash, wasn't in the best interests of the company and its
shareholders. It tops a $86 a share bid in May, which itself was an
increase from an $82 a share offer Ralcorp rejected in April.
The $5.18 billion valuation of the latest bid is based on the
number of Ralcorp shares outstanding as of a week ago in a filing
to U.S. regulators.
In a letter to ConAgra released Friday, Ralcorp Chairman William
P. Stiritz said the company is firmly committed to its plan to
separate cereal brand Post Foods from Ralcorp. He said the board
unanimously determined that it and ConAgra "have nothing further to
discuss."
-By Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291;
joan.solsman@dowjones.com