Success Story: Pinnacle Foods Group an Appetizing Acquisition
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Success Story: Pinnacle Foods Group An Appetizing Acquisition “IntraLinks allowed us Speed was of the essence when Pinnacle Foods decided it would try to capitalize on market to capitalize on favorable financing market conditions. The company initially prepared for an IPO but then quickly changed gears to respond conditions and achieve the to a number of potential suitors interested in buying the business. Once best possible price for Pinnacle decided to offer itself for sale, they turned to IntraLinks to build the company a massive online dealroom in only one week. Buyers our company.” liked what they saw, and in a short time a major private equity group - Kelley Maggs acquired Pinnacle for $2.16 billion. Senior Vice President and General Counsel The Pinnacle Foods deal team looked around the table. It was mid-December 2006, and the Pinnacle Foods Group LLC company known for acquiring and re-energizing such brands as Duncan Hines® and Aunt Jemima® was considering turning the tables and selling itself. Senior leadership had given the deal team just one week to prepare for buyers’ due diligence. The company wanted to capitalize on favorable financing market conditions and deliver maximum return to Pinnacle’s investors. The Pinnacle deal team had experience on their side, with more than 45 completed transactions among them. Based on the tight timeline and their previous experience, the team knew that a virtual dealroom, rather than a traditional paper data room, was the only way to go. “We’ve spent enough time in data rooms sorting through boxes of documents to know that we couldn’t have gotten the deal done in time without a virtual dealroom,” explains Marc Mongulla, Vice President of Corporate Development and Financial Reporting. “But we had so much information to make available in a ridiculously short time frame, we were concerned it would choke any virtual dealroom provider. We knew it would be an extraordinary challenge.” “Along with launching the dealroom quickly, we needed to make sure it would meet buyers’ needs,” adds Jack Kroeger, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel. “It had to be very user-friendly, so that buyers would be able to swiftly find the information they needed and we could shorten the time frame for each round of bidding.” The seasoned Pinnacle team chose IntraLinks® On-Demand Workspaces™. After thoroughly vetting IntraLinks’ product and its service organization, the Pinnacle team was convinced that IntraLinks had the ability to build out the dealroom quickly and could help them successfully manage the due diligence process. “We were universally impressed with IntraLinks,” recalls Lynne Misericordia, Senior Vice President and Treasurer. “It didn’t take long for all of us to agree that the system would meet our user needs, and the company would meet our urgent timeline.” Mountains of Data amount of time required to disseminate “We’re very impressed with IntraLinks,” Many of the documents they needed resided the information and limiting the number of declares Kelley Maggs, Pinnacle’s Senior in-house; still others came from outside repetitious questions. Vice President and General Counsel. “In just attorneys. Pinnacle sent reams of financial one week, they turned a massive amount of “We handled numerous data requests and operational documents to IntraLinks for information into a dealroom that met buyers’ every day. With IntraLinks, we slashed scanning, organizing and posting to their needs and ours, then facilitated the due the time required to respond to each request diligence process from there. This allowed us online dealroom. from days to hours. The time savings were to capitalize on market conditions and achieve enormous, and allowed us to keep the due The first day, IntraLinks uploaded more the best possible price for our company.” than 17,000 documents. Within the week, diligence process moving very quickly,” the dealroom held 24,000 documents, and says Misericordia. Pinnacle opened it up to buyers. By deal’s “It wasn’t just the speed of answering end, Pinnacle had made 30,000 documents individual requests that made a difference,” available to potential suitors. adds Mongulla. “The ability to quickly make that same data available to multiple parties “IntraLinks’ ability to absorb the mountains was vital.” of data we sent in such a short period of time was remarkable,” says Misericordia. Tracking Activity Pinnacle used IntraLinks’ tracking capabilities Confidential…with Confidence as another way to reduce the massive As with any deal, security was of paramount number of information requests. When users importance. Pinnacle needed to share repeatedly asked for information that was highly confidential financial and operational already posted in the dealroom, the team used information without the security concerns IntraLinks’ tracking capability to determine if inherent in paper data rooms and email. the requesters were using the dealroom and to what extent. Those who had not sought the Pinnacle needed the ability to customize who information on their own first were directed to had access to what information, from batches IntraLinks so that they could take advantage of to individual documents. IntraLinks document- their access to the information. This freed the level protection enabled Pinnacle to upload Pinnacle team to focus their attention on more documents without worry that non-authorized strategic activities. parties could access them. If other buyers subsequently asked for the same information, The Pinnacle team also utilized the Pinnacle could easily grant access. workspace’s tracking capabilities to help determine the interest levels of the parties. Limiting Repeat Questions Prospective buyers conducted due diligence Impressive Ending in January. Representatives from each buyer In the end, Pinnacle’s hard work paid used IntraLinks along with armies of external off. Despite the massive amount of consultants, accountants, attorneys and documentation and the number of advisors other specialists. involved, Pinnacle’s suitors were able to complete most of their due diligence in The many teams of consultants led to just one month. On February 12, 2007, the numerous repeat questions and requests company announced its sale to a major private for additional information. Using IntraLinks, equity firm. The quick turnaround from the Pinnacle notified all the parties when start of due diligence to the deal closing beat responding, thus dramatically reducing the the company’s aggressive timeline. About Pinnacle Foods Group LLC Pinnacle Foods Group LLC is a leading producer, marketer and distributor of high-quality, branded convenience food products, the products and operations of which are managed and reported in two operating segments: (i) dry www.intralinks.com foods and (ii) frozen foods. The Company’s dry foods segment consists primarily of Vlasic® pickles, peppers and 1 866 INTRALINKS relish products, Duncan Hines® baking mixes and frostings, Mrs. Butterworth’s® and Log Cabin® syrups and pancake mixes, Open Pit® barbecue sauce and Armour® canned meats, as well as food service and private label products. The New York + 1 212 342 7684 Company’s frozen foods segment consists primarily of Swanson® and Hungry Man® frozen foods products, Van de Kamp’s® and Mrs. Paul’s® frozen seafood, Aunt Jemima® frozen breakfasts, Lender’s® bagels and Celeste® frozen pizza, London + 44 (0) 20 7060 0660 as well as food service and private label products. Headquartered in New Jersey, the Company employs more than Hong Kong + 852 3101 7022 3,000 workers, owns seven manufacturing facilities and generates approximately $1.5 billion in annual net sales. © 2007 IntraLinks, Inc. All rights reserved. IntraLinks and the IntraLinks logo are registered trademarks of IntraLinks, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. 071016 All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners. .