Compare Cooper’s M&A Strategy to Beatrice in the year’s preceding Rasmussen

* Beatrice’ initial M&A strategy was predicated on building market share by making selective acquisitions of smaller companies (i.e., daries, etc) that were complementary in nature (see pg 1086). Simultaneously, Beatrice achieved economies of scale through as they progressively became a “geographically dispersed company.”

* Beatrice M&A Criteria * Acquired company needed to be profitable / not dilutive to current growth (needed to be able to grow “faster” than food – and not necessarily related to food) * Preference for smaller companies (incremental build-up of market share) * Preference to have strong management teams (which would remain intact after the acquisition)

* Beatrice’s Unrelated diversification * FTC regulatory restrictions on dairy companies forced Beatrice to focus on moving beyond dairy products and delve into non-food products such as makers of food service equipment and gardening equipment) * Diversified conglomerate model allowed Beatrice to enhance their comprehension of other industries from the pre-existing management teams of their acquired companies (“valuable sources of information” that subsequently enabled them to branch out into other industries that they deemed valuable)

* Beatrice – structure: Decentralized multi-divisions with a central office (contrast with Cooper’s more central organizational frameworks). * Beatrice did drive value by way of operational synergies (contrast to Cooper); “the word ‘synergy’ was never used * Beatrice absorb the new companies as separate / in-tact entities (which explains why KKR ultimately sold Beatrice off in a dozen fragmented pieces) * True “conglomerate”

* Beatrice management team: solely focused on acquisitions as opposed to operations (much the result of the company’s structure to have individual divisions)

* Beatrice driving value * Strong brand focus: Discarded the acquisition’s brand and consolidated it under the Meadow Gold brand name (thus enabling Beatrice to advertise nationally and create economies of scale) * Ability to bring capital and professional management expertise to the smaller private firms that they acquired