
The Blackstone buyout machine continues to find new targets. The latest is Pinnacle Foods Group.
True, this does not compare to the mega deal for Equity Office Properties (NYSE: EOP).
Nevertheless, the price tag still has ten digits: $2.2 billion (if you include the debt load).
Pinnacle is an amalgam of consumer brands, such as Vlasic, Duncan Hines and Swanson. In other words, it is a stable cash-flow business, which is what private equity firms love.
Blackstone is buying the company from a group of private equity firms, which have spent the last three years restructuring the company's operations.
At 12X EBITDA, the deal is not cheap. Pinnacle is thus likely to be a platform for further acquisitions.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.
Walmart's New Health Food Push: Is It Too Hard to Swallow?
Bonds Are a 'Safe' Investment: A Big Lie Gets Even Bigger

