Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Non-core discards It's remarkable how fast an area or brand can go from complementary, full of synergies, and a "bold expansion that builds on our strengths" to being "outside our core business/competencies/operations." In the gin game of brand acquistion, US-based Pinnacle Foods has made a business of picking up so-called "orphan brands" that didn't fit into other company's portfolios. These brands were accumulated mostly through acquisitions by some the biggest American food companies; Kraft, Kellogg, Unilever, and so on, all of which decided they should discard them. Pinnacle Foods picked them up. (Pinnacle is the result of the acquisition of food packager Aurora Foods in 2004 by Pinnacle Foods, which is owned by JP Morgan, the private equity arm of J. P. Morgan Chase & Company.) Anyway, here's the list of pick-ups they've made in the last decade. Pinnacle/Aurora brands Brand Product type Year purchased Purchased from Armour Packaged meats 2004 Dial Corporation Aunt Jemima Pancake syrup 1996 Quaker Celeste Frozen pizza 1996 Quaker Duncan Hines Cake mix 1999 Procter & Gamble Lender's Frozen bagels 1999 Kellogg Log Cabin Pancake syrup 1997 Kraft Mrs. Butterworth Pancake syrup 1997 Unilever Mrs. Paul's Frozen fish 1996 Campbell Swanson Frozen dinners 2001 Part of Vlasic Van de Kamp Frozen fish 1995 Pillsbury Vlasic Pickles 2001 Bankrupt, spun off from Campbell in 1998 6:52:36 PM

comment []