General Mills $8 billion acquisition of Blue Buffalo Pet Products

Overview:

• General Mills has acquired Blue Buffalo Pet Products in an $8 billion deal.
• Blue Buffalo produces dog and cat food. 
• Part of the financing for acquisition came from a $6.05 billion notes offering by General Mills.
• The offering consisted of $850 million floating rate notes, $400 million floating rate notes, $600 million 3.2% notes, $850 million 3.7% notes, $800 million 4% notes, $1.4 billion 4.2% notes, $500 million 4.55% notes and $650 million 4.7% notes. 
• The underwriters were led by Goldman Sachs, Barclays, BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Global Markets, Deutsche Bank Securities and Morgan Stanley. 
• Goldman Sachs acted as financial adviser for General Mills and JP Morgan Securities and Centerview Partners acted for Blue Buffalo on the acquisition.
• The deal is expected to close by the end of General Mills' FY 2018.

Kurt Stumpo - Journalist