What might be the best thing for a buyout mogul? How about a blank check?

Well, that's what Nelson Peltz is trying to get. That is, he has filed an offering for a blank check offering -- called Trian Acquisition -- that will have $750 million for M&A deals. Which ones? It's whatever Nelson wants.

Seems he has the pedigree to pull it off. Peltz got his start back in the roaring 1980s (with the help of Mike Milken). He also has lots of operational experience, being the CEO of Triarc. Oh, and he's been an effective shareholder activist, as seen with such plays as Heinz (NYSE: HNZ) and Wendy's (NYSE: WEN).

As for Trian Acquisition, the focus will be on companies that have a strong foundation but are being mismanaged or undermanaged (there should be a lot to choose from). Thus, the play is to provide some expertise to boost sales and cash flows.

The lead underwriters on the offering include Deutsche Bank Securities and Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER). The proposed ticker is "TRAC."

You can find the prospectus at the SEC website. And, if you want to check out other recent IPO activity, visit DealProfiles.com.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Billionaire Nelson Peltz may have thought he had the inside track to buy Wendy's (NYSE: WEN) since his Triarc Group already owns Arby's.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Peltz will have competition from a group including Thomas H. Lee Partners LP, Oaktree Capital, and First National Financial. The head of First National once ran the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's chains. And, a third group has come to the table, this one backed by Kelso & Co. and Oak Hill Capital Partners.

Unlike several private equity deals that are falling apart because of tight credit markets, the Wendy's deal looks like it may be done at a nice premium for shareholders. Wall Street anticipates that the company could go for $37 to $41 a share. Wendy's stock is under $34.

Why is this deal different from others? Perhaps because the most visible bidders have a great deal of experience in the fast food business. This may give them more confidence that they will know which parts of the company can be improved to yield better cash flow.

That makes Wendy's shareholders more fortunate than those in other companies being pursued for buy-outs.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Raider Nelson Peltz wants changes at Kraft (NYSE: KFT) and he may be getting them. The Wall Street Journal speculates (subscription required) that the Post cereals unit of the big food company might bring in as much as $3 billion. Pepsi (NYSE: PEP) is viewed as on of the potential buyers.

Kraft is a dog of a stock. Over the last year, its is off 5% while the S&P is up about 10%. Q2 increases in revenue and net income were both modest with total sales hitting $9.2 billion and net income $770 million.

A look at the 10-Q shows that sales by division are uneven. Most of the company's US businesses are barely growing at all. Sales at the firm's cereals division were flat at $1.61 billion. Operating income was down slightly to $226 million.

But, cereals is not the only troubled division at Kraft. Operating income dropped in four of the company's seven divisions in the last reported quarter.

Peltz is right. Time to start selling stuff off.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Raider Nelson Peltz bought a piece of Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT). The shares went up some and then settled back. He wants to streamline the company, sell off underperforming assets, and make better use of cash. That is pretty much a canned speech for Nelson and his peers.

Yesterday, Kraft's CEO said she she would meet with Nelson. He can share all of his plans, most of which have probably occurred to the board already.

At the same time the company announced that it would have the meeting, the press found out that Carl Icahn has a stake in the company. It's not clear yet what his plans are, but he probably did not buy shares because he likes the artwork on the stock certificates. Kraft jumped 3% late in the day on Friday.

The news put Kraft into a rare position. If Peltz and Icahn have different goals for the company, it may actually be easier to turn them both down. Kraft can't do everything for everyone. But, if the two old hands decide to take the same path to getting the company to cough up cash for a share buyback or special dividend, Kraft has a problem.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Wendy's International Inc. (NYSE: WEN) has just announced that its same-store sales rose .7% in the second quarter of the year. The chain has 6,600 stores. By contrast, McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) same-store sales rose almost 9% in May, the last reported month. The world's largest food chain has over 35,000 outlets.

The difference between the growth rates in the two companies is behind Wendy's decision to put itself up for sale. Raider Nelson Peltz owns nearly 10% of the firm's shares and cannot be happy with attempts to turn the company around.

No matter who buys Wendy's at this point, most current shareholders are likely to be unhappy. Shares now trade at $38. The 52-week low is $30.29 and the high for the period is $67.19.

Wendy's recently cut sales forecasts, so a big takeover premium is probably not in the cards.

The company's share price may kill its shareholders before its fatty menu does.

Douglas A. McIntyre is partner at 24/7 Wall St.

There have been rumors for a few days that Kraft (NYSE: KFT) would buy Groupe Danone's (NYSE: DA) biscuit unit to improve its sales in Europe. Well, dreams do come true. Kraft has offered $7.2 billion for the Danone operation, and it appears that the two companies are close to a deal.

Figures from the two companies put Kraft's biscuit and cookie annual sales at about $5 billion and Danone second in the world at $3 billion. Certainly Kraft management will say that there are savings in cutting employees, factories and distribution channels. And that may be right, but some will say that they see the invisible head of raider Nelson Peltz pushing Kraft to be more aggressive in transforming its business.

Petlz recently bought 3% if Kraft. As if reading from the 'raider' handbook on badgering CEOs, he immediately asked the company to divest under-performing assets and look at alternative uses for its cash. That usually includes special dividends to shareholders or stock buybacks.

Kraft may be indicating that it will buy new businesses with its capital whether it be cash or stock, and Mr. Peltz can keep his seat in the peanut gallery and watch.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Billionaire investor Nelson Peltz has acquired 3% of Kraft (NYSE: KFT) and will ask the company to sell Post Cereals and the Maxwell House coffee brand, according to a source.

Mr. Peltz has risen to number 278 on the Forbes list as one of the kings of the leveraged buyout business and, like Carl Icahn, has transformed himself into an activist investor, using proxy battles or the threat of proxy battles, to force companies to unlock value for shareholders.

One of his biggest coups was paying $300 million for Snapple in 1997 and flipping it three years later for five times that. More recently, he purchased a stake in Heinz (NYSE: HNZ), and pushed the company to cut costs, sell assets, and refocus on its core ketchup business.

Peltz's business savvy and large stake in the company make this great news for the company's investors. The stock soared yesterday after CNBC's David Faber reported that Peltz was targeting the company, and Goldman Sachs upped the stock from Sell to Neutral on the news and restructuring speculation.

While it's probably not a good idea to buy a stock just because an investment legend has, you could probably do a lot worse than following Peltz into Kraft. The shares have been stuck in a trading range for years now, and Peltz may just be the catalyst to help the company break out.

Nelson Peltz is an old school corporate raider, who got his stripes during the giddy 1980s. He's back again and using some of his trusty tools to shake things up in the boardroom.

He is now chewing on Cadbury Schweppes plc ADR (NYSE:CSG). That is, Peltz owns about 3% of the company. This is according to a report in the Wall Street Journal [a paid service]. Well, when Peltz comes along it's a good idea to listen. And, in the case of Cadbury Schweppes, it got the message -- and fast. The company is now going to take some serious action – separating its business into confections and soft drinks.

That should help unlock value. It may also mean the prelude to a buyout of both companies. Of course, there certainly enough private equity capital sloshing around to buy solid, branded companies. There may also be interest from strategic players, like The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO).

Apparently, Cadbury Schweppes had been drawing-up plans for this move for some time. But, with Peltz, it found a good reason to pull the trigger.

Yes, candy and soft drinks can make a nice meal.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.