The Fall of RJR Nabisco

Paper Summary:

RJR Nabisco was, until recently, an international consumer products company with subsidiaries engaged in domestic and international tobacco businesses and an 80.7 percent interest in Nabisco Holdings Corp., a large multinational food company. This conglomerate was formed in 1989 as a result of a $25 billion hostile takeover of Nabisco by RJR which was orchestrated by investment bankers KKR and which is considered one of the largest hostile takeover in American history. This paper begins by summarizing the state of the two companies before the merger, briefly details the merger, considers the options that both companies had and then concludes with the consequences of the buyout - the fall of RJR Nabisco. The paper includes tables.

From the Paper:

"In short order, Reynolds' acquired Chun King, Patio Foods, American Independent Oil, Del Monte, Inglenook wines, Smirnoff vodka, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Sunkist beverages, and Canada Dry, all of which it sold by 1991. In 1985 Reynolds bought Nabisco (Newtons, Oreo, Premium Saltines, Cream of Wheat, Planters nuts) for $4.9 billion, forming RJR Nabisco Holdings. Nabisco's CEO, Ross Johnson, became CEO of RJR Nabisco. When Johnson attempted an LBO of RJR Nabisco, buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) outbid him, acquiring the company in a deal valued in excess of $25 billion in 1989."

More papers on The Fall of RJR Nabisco:

• Book Review # 18612 : "Burrough and Helyar's "Barbarians At The Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco"
• Essay # 19267 : "Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of Rjr Nabisco" by Bryan Burroughs & John Helyar"
• Analytical Essay # 2827 : "Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher"

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