Founding and early years Hillshire Brands made its debut on June 29, 2012, after the former
Sara Lee Corporation spun off its international coffee and tea division and renamed the remaining units of the company Hillshire Brands. It began trading on the
NYSE that same day under the
ticker HSH. Under the terms of the deal, Sara Lee's stock underwent a one-for-five reverse split. As of June 27, 2012, all Sara Lee shareholders saw their holdings transform into Hillshire Brands shares and shrink by a factor of five. In addition, each former Sara Lee shareholder received shares in
D.E. Master Blenders 1753 on a one-to-one basis. The company paid out a concurrent $3 special cash dividend on all D.E Master Blenders 1753 shares. In May 2013 the split was recognized among the six most successful
Fortune 500 companies’ spinoffs by
Fortune. During the fiscal year 2013 roughly three quarters of Hillshire's revenues (74%) were generated through retail channels while the foodservice business accounted for 26% of the company's sales.
Abandoned merger with Pinnacle Foods In May 2014, Hillshire Brands announced it was buying
Pinnacle Foods for
US$4.23 billion in a
cash and
stock deal. Pinnacle Foods brands include
Birds Eye,
Duncan Hines,
Hungry-Man and
Swanson frozen
TV dinners, among many others. Days later,
Pilgrim's Pride threatened the deal with its own bid for Hillshire Brands for $6.4 billion. To complicate matters further, on May 29, 2014,
Tyson Foods announced a $6.13 billion cash bid for Hillshire Brands. On June 9, 2014, Hillshire announced it had received a revised bid from Tysons valuing the company at $8.55 billion. Pilgrim's Pride simultaneously announced it had withdrawn its bid.
Acquisition by Tyson Foods On June 30, 2014, it was announced that
Pinnacle Foods had scrapped its sale to Hillshire Brands, which would allow Hillshire to be acquired by
Tyson Foods. Pinnacle would receive a $163 million payment as part of the breakup from Hillshire, and Pinnacle would also receive an expected $25 million in one-time costs connected to the nixed sale. ==Portfolio ==