| SEC Info | Home | Search | My Interests | Help | Sign In | Please Sign In | ||||||||||||||||||||
As Of Filer Filing As/For/On Docs:Pgs Issuer Agent 5/23/08 Wrigley Wm Jr Co PREM14A 5/23/08 1:176 RR Donnelley/FA
Document/Exhibit Description Pages Size 1: PREM14A Preliminary Proxy Statement HTML 1,235K
|
| Preliminary Proxy Statement |
SCHEDULE 14A INFORMATION
Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Amendment No. )
Filed by the Registrant x Filed by a Party other than the Registrant ¨
Check the appropriate box:
| x | Preliminary Proxy Statement |
| ¨ | Confidential, for Use of the Commission Only (as permitted by Rule 14a-6(e)(2)) |
| ¨ | Definitive Proxy Statement |
| ¨ | Definitive Additional Materials |
| ¨ | Soliciting Material Pursuant to §240.14a-12 |
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
(Name of Registrant as Specified In Its Charter)
(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement if other than the Registrant)
Payment of Filing Fee (Check the appropriate box):
| ¨ | No fee required. |
| x | Fee computed on table below per Exchange Act Rules 14a-6(i)(1) and 0-11. |
| 1) | Title of each class of securities to which transaction applies: Common Stock, no par value, and Class B Common Stock, no par value, of Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company |
| 2) | Aggregate number of securities to which transaction applies: 216,392,028 outstanding shares of Common Stock less the 991,800 shares of Common Stock which are expected to be canceled in the merger without payment, 55,575,546 outstanding shares of Class B Common Stock, 14,271,624 shares of Common Stock underlying outstanding options to purchase Common Stock and 1,717,479 shares of Common Stock in connection with outstanding stock units issued pursuant to the Company stock plans. |
| 3) | Per unit price or other underlying value of transaction computed pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 0-11 (Set forth the amount on which the filing fee is calculated and state how it was determined): The filing fee was computed pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 0-11(c) and is equal to $39.30 per million dollars of the aggregate merger consideration of $22,239,470,189. The aggregate merger consideration is calculated as the sum of (a) the product of 215,400,228 shares of Common Stock and the merger consideration of $80.00 per share, plus (b) the product of 55,575,546 shares of Class B Common Stock and the merger consideration of $80.00 per share, plus (c) the product of 14,271,624 options to purchase shares of Common Stock that have an exercise price of less than $80.00 and $29.71, which is the deference between the merger consideration of $80.00 and the weighted average exercise price per share of the merger consideration of $80.00 in cash per share of Common Stock, as specified in the Merger Agreement, plus (d) the product of 1,717,479 shares of Common Stock in connection with outstanding stock units issued pursuant to the Company stock plans. |
| 4) | Proposed maximum aggregate value of transaction: $22,239,470,189 |
| 5) | Total fee paid: $874,012 |
| ¨ | Fee paid previously with preliminary materials. |
| ¨ | Check box if any part of the fee is offset as provided by Exchange Act Rule 0-11(a)(2) and identify the filing for which the offsetting fee was paid previously. Identify the previous filing by registration statement number, or the Form or Schedule and the date of its filing. |
| 1) | Amount Previously Paid: |
| 2) | Form, Schedule or Registration Statement No.: |
| 3) | Filing Party: |
| 4) | Date Filed: |
Preliminary Proxy Statement—Subject to Completion, dated May 23, 2008
Wm. WRIGLEY Jr. Company
Wrigley Building • 410 North Michigan Avenue • Chicago, Illinois 60611
, 2008
Dear Stockholder:
You are cordially invited to attend a special meeting of stockholders of Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company to be held on , 2008 at , Chicago time, at . At the special meeting, you will be asked to consider and vote upon a proposal to adopt the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of April 28, 2008, among Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, a Delaware corporation, Mars, Incorporated, a Delaware corporation, New Uno Holdings Corporation, a Delaware corporation, and New Uno Acquisition Corporation, a Delaware corporation. Pursuant to the merger agreement, New Uno Acquisition Corporation will merge with and into Wrigley with Wrigley continuing as the surviving corporation in the merger. The merger agreement provides that, following the merger, Wrigley will operate as a separate, stand-alone business unit operating under Mars.
If the merger is completed, holders of Wrigley Common Stock and Class B Common Stock will be entitled to receive $80.00 in cash, or the “merger consideration,” without interest and less any applicable withholding tax, for each share of Wrigley Common Stock or Class B Common Stock owned by them as of the effective time of the merger.
Our board of directors has determined that the merger agreement and the merger are advisable and in the best interests of Wrigley and its stockholders. Our board of directors has approved the merger agreement. Our board of directors unanimously recommends that you vote “FOR” adoption of the merger agreement at the special meeting.
Our board of directors considered a number of factors in evaluating the transaction and consulted with its legal and financial advisors in so doing. The enclosed proxy statement also provides detailed information about the merger agreement and the merger. We encourage you to read the proxy statement carefully.
YOUR VOTE IS VERY IMPORTANT, REGARDLESS OF THE NUMBER OF SHARES YOU OWN. The merger agreement must be adopted by the affirmative vote of holders of two-thirds of the outstanding shares of our Common Stock and two-thirds of the outstanding shares of our Class B Common Stock, each voting as a separate class. Therefore, if you do not return your proxy card, submit your proxy via the Internet or telephone or attend the special meeting and vote in person, it will have the same effect as if you voted “AGAINST” adoption of the merger agreement. Only stockholders who owned shares of Wrigley Common Stock or Class B Common Stock at the close of business on , 2008, the record date for the special meeting, will be entitled to notice of and to vote at the special meeting. On behalf of the board of directors, we urge you to vote your shares by completing, signing, dating and returning the enclosed proxy card, or by submitting your proxy via the Internet or telephone as soon as possible, even if you currently plan to attend the special meeting.
PLEASE NOTE WE ARE REQUIRING ADMISSION TICKETS TO ATTEND THE SPECIAL MEETING. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE REFER TO THE ATTACHED NOTICE OF MEETING.
Thank you for your support. We look forward to seeing you at the special meeting.
Sincerely,
WILLIAM WRIGLEY, JR.
Executive Chairman
and Chairman of the Board
This proxy statement is dated , 2008 and is first being mailed to stockholders
of Wrigley on or about , 2008.
Wm. WRIGLEY Jr. Company
Wrigley Building • 410 North Michigan Avenue • Chicago, Illinois 60611
, 2008
NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS
AND PROXY STATEMENT
YOUR VOTE IS VERY IMPORTANT. PLEASE VOTE YOUR SHARES PROMPTLY.
Notice is hereby given that a special meeting of stockholders of Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, a Delaware corporation, will be held on , 2008, at , Chicago time, at , for the following purposes:
| 1. | to consider and vote upon the adoption of the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of April 28, 2008, among Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, a Delaware corporation, Mars, Incorporated, a Delaware corporation, New Uno Holdings Corporation, a Delaware corporation, and New Uno Acquisition Corporation, a Delaware corporation, as it may be amended from time to time, as more fully described in the enclosed proxy statement; |
| 2. | to consider and vote upon a proposal to adjourn the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies if there are not sufficient votes in favor of adopting the merger agreement at the time of the special meeting; and |
| 3. | to transact such other business as may properly come before the meeting or any adjournment of the meeting. |
You are entitled to vote at the special meeting if you were a stockholder of record at the close of business on , 2008. Your vote is important. The affirmative vote of the holders of two-thirds of the outstanding shares of Common Stock and two-thirds of the outstanding shares of Class B Common Stock, each voting as a separate class, is required to adopt the merger agreement and the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the total number of votes entitled to be cast in respect of the shares of our Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, present in person or represented at the special meeting, voting as a single class, is required to approve the proposal to adjourn the special meeting.
Holders of Wrigley Common Stock and Class B Common Stock who do not vote in favor of adoption of the merger agreement are entitled to appraisal rights under Delaware law in connection with the merger if they comply with all requirements of Delaware law. See “The Merger — Appraisal Rights” beginning on page 53 of the proxy statement and Annex D to this proxy statement.
All stockholders are cordially invited to attend the special meeting in person. Only persons with an admission ticket, evidence of stock ownership or who are guests of Wrigley may attend and be admitted to the special meeting. Photo identification will be required (a valid driver’s license or passport is preferred).
| • | If your shares are registered in your name, you must bring the admission ticket attached to your proxy card. If you would like to pre-register for the meeting, please contact Wrigley’s Stockholder Relations Department at (800) 874-0474 and request an admission ticket. |
| • | If your shares are registered in the name of a broker, trust, bank or other nominee, you need to bring a proxy or a letter from that broker, trust, bank or other nominee or your most recent brokerage account statement that confirms that you are the beneficial owner of those shares. |
If you do not have either an admission ticket or proof that you own shares, you will not be admitted to the special meeting.
Even if you plan to attend the special meeting in person, we request that you complete, sign, date and return the enclosed proxy or submit your proxy via the Internet or telephone and thus ensure that your shares will be represented at the special meeting if you are unable to attend. If you sign, date and return your proxy card without indicating how you wish to vote, your proxy will be counted as a vote in favor of adoption of the merger agreement and in favor of adjournment of the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to permit solicitations of additional proxies. If you fail to return your proxy card and do not submit your proxy via the Internet or by telephone, your shares will effectively be counted as a vote against adoption of the merger agreement and will not be counted for purposes of determining whether a quorum is present at the special meeting or for purposes of the vote to adjourn the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to permit solicitations of additional proxies. If you do attend the special meeting and wish to vote in person, you may withdraw your proxy and vote in person.
Our board of directors unanimously recommends that you vote “FOR” adoption of the merger agreement and “FOR” adjournment of the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies if there are not sufficient votes in favor of adopting the merger agreement at the time of the special meeting.
By Authorization of the Board of Directors,
Howard Malovany,
Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel
WM. WRIGLEY JR. COMPANY
SPECIAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS
| QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE SPECIAL MEETING AND THE MERGER |
i | |
| 1 | ||
| 1 | ||
| 2 | ||
| 2 | ||
| 3 | ||
| 3 | ||
| Recommendation of Wrigley’s Board of Directors and Reasons for the Merger |
3 | |
| 3 | ||
| 3 | ||
| 4 | ||
| Interests of Wrigley’s Directors and Executive Officers in the Merger |
5 | |
| 6 | ||
| 7 | ||
| 8 | ||
| 8 | ||
| 10 | ||
| 10 | ||
| 11 | ||
| 12 | ||
| 13 | ||
| 14 | ||
| 14 | ||
| 14 | ||
| 14 | ||
| 14 | ||
| 15 | ||
| 15 | ||
| 16 | ||
| 16 | ||
| 16 | ||
| 16 | ||
| 16 | ||
| 17 |
i
| 18 | ||
| 18 | ||
| Recommendation of Wrigley’s Board of Directors and Reasons for the Merger |
22 | |
| 25 | ||
| 27 | ||
| 37 | ||
| 44 | ||
| Interests of Wrigley’s Directors and Executive Officers in the Merger |
45 | |
| 53 | ||
| 56 | ||
| 56 | ||
| 56 | ||
| 57 | ||
| 59 | ||
| 60 | ||
| 60 | ||
| 61 | ||
| Conversion of Shares; Procedure for Exchange of Certificates |
61 | |
| 62 | ||
| Treatment of Stock Options and Other Equity-Based Awards; Employee Benefits |
62 | |
| 63 | ||
| 66 | ||
| 69 | ||
| 69 | ||
| Agreement to Take Further Action and to Use Reasonable Best Efforts |
71 | |
| 71 | ||
| 72 | ||
| 72 | ||
| 74 | ||
| 74 | ||
| 75 | ||
| 76 | ||
| 77 | ||
| 79 | ||
| 80 | ||
| 82 | ||
| 84 | ||
| 84 | ||
| 84 | ||
| 85 |
ii
iii
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE SPECIAL MEETING AND THE MERGER
The following questions and answers are intended to address some commonly-asked questions regarding the special meeting and the merger. These questions and answers may not address all questions that may be important to you as a Wrigley stockholder. We urge you to read carefully the more detailed information contained elsewhere in this proxy statement, the annexes to this proxy statement and the documents we refer to in this proxy statement.
Except as otherwise specifically noted in this proxy statement, the “Company,” and “we,” “our,” “us” and similar words in this proxy statement refer to Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company. Throughout this proxy statement we also refer to Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company as “Wrigley” and Mars, Incorporated as “Mars.” In addition, throughout this proxy statement, we refer to New Uno Holdings Corporation as “Holdings” and New Uno Acquisition Corporation as “Merger Sub.”
| Q: |
Why am I receiving this proxy statement? |
| A: |
Our board of directors is furnishing this proxy statement in connection with the solicitation of proxies to be voted at a special meeting of stockholders or at any adjournments or postponements of the special meeting. |
| Q: |
What am I being asked to vote on? |
| A: |
You are being asked to vote to adopt a merger agreement that provides for the acquisition of Wrigley by Holdings. The proposed acquisition would be accomplished through a merger of Merger Sub with and into Wrigley. As a result of the merger, Wrigley will become a subsidiary of Holdings and Wrigley Common Stock will cease to be listed on The New York Stock Exchange, will not be publicly traded and will be deregistered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (which we refer to in this proxy statement as the “Exchange Act”). |
In addition, you are being asked to grant Wrigley management authority to adjourn the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies if there are not sufficient votes in favor of adopting the merger agreement at the time of the special meeting.
| Q: |
What will I receive in the merger? |
| A: |
As a result of the merger, holders of our Common Stock and Class B Common Stock will be entitled to receive $80.00 in cash, without interest and less any applicable withholding tax, for each share of Common Stock or Class B Common Stock they own at the effective time of the merger. For example, if you own 100 shares of Wrigley Common Stock or Class B Common Stock at the effective time of the merger, you will be entitled to receive $8,000 in cash, less any applicable withholding tax, in exchange for your 100 shares. |
| Q: |
What do I need to do now? |
| A: |
We urge you to read this proxy statement carefully and then mail your completed, dated and signed proxy card in the enclosed return envelope as soon as possible, or submit your proxy via the Internet or telephone, so that your shares can be voted at the special meeting of stockholders. |
PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR STOCK CERTIFICATES WITH YOUR PROXY CARD. YOU WILL RECEIVE DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING EXCHANGE OF YOUR STOCK CERTIFICATES IF THE MERGER IS CONSUMMATED.
| Q: |
How does Wrigley’s board recommend that I vote? |
| A: |
Our board of directors unanimously recommends that you vote “FOR” adoption of the merger agreement and “FOR” adjournment of the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies if there are not sufficient votes in favor of |
i
| adopting the merger agreement at the time of the special meeting. At a meeting held on April 27, 2008, Wrigley’s board of directors unanimously approved the merger agreement and determined that the merger agreement and the merger are advisable and in the best interests of Wrigley and its stockholders. |
| Q: |
What vote is required to adopt the merger agreement and approve the adjournment of the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies if there are not sufficient votes in favor of adopting the merger agreement at the time of the special meeting? |
| A: |
Adoption of the merger agreement requires the affirmative vote of the holders of two-thirds of the outstanding shares of our Common Stock and two-thirds of the outstanding shares of our Class B Common Stock, each voting as a separate class. Approval of the adjournment of the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies if there are not sufficient votes in favor of adopting the merger agreement at the time of the special meeting requires the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the total number of votes entitled to be cast in respect of the shares of our Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, present in person or represented at the special meeting, voting as a single class. |
As of , 2008, the record date for determining who is entitled to vote at the special meeting, there were shares of Common Stock and shares of Class B Common Stock issued and outstanding. Each holder of Wrigley Common Stock is entitled to one vote per share of Common Stock owned by such holder and each holder of Wrigley Class B Common Stock is entitled to ten votes per share of Class B Common Stock owned by such holder.
| Q: |
Where and when is the special meeting of stockholders? |
| A: |
The special meeting will be held on , 2008 at , Chicago time, at . |
| Q: |
Who is entitled to vote at the special meeting? |
| A: |
Only stockholders of record as of the close of business on , 2008, or the “record date,” are entitled to receive notice of the special meeting and to vote at the special meeting the shares of Common Stock or Class B Common Stock that they held on the record date, or at any adjournments or postponements of the special meeting. |
| Q: |
May I attend the special meeting and vote in person? |
| A: |
Yes. All stockholders as of the record date may attend the special meeting and vote in person. Only persons with an admission ticket, evidence of stock ownership or who are guests of the Company may attend and be admitted to the special meeting. Photo identification will be required (a valid driver’s license or passport is preferred). |
| • | If your shares are registered in your name, you must bring the admission ticket attached to your proxy card. If you would like to pre-register for the meeting, please contact the Company’s Stockholder Relations Department at (800) 874-0474 and request an admission ticket. |
| • | If your shares are registered in the name of a broker, trust, bank or other nominee, you need to bring a proxy or a letter from that broker, trust, bank or other nominee or your most recent brokerage account statement that confirms that you are the beneficial owner of those shares. |
If you do not have either an admission ticket or proof that you own shares, you will not be admitted to the special meeting. Seating will be limited. No cameras, recording equipment, electronic devices, large bags, briefcases or packages will be permitted in the special meeting.
ii
Even if you plan to attend the special meeting in person, we urge you to complete, sign, date and return the enclosed proxy or submit your proxy via the Internet or telephone to ensure that your shares will be represented at the special meeting.
| Q: |
How do I vote my shares? |
| A: |
If your shares are registered in your name, you may vote your shares by completing, signing, dating and returning the enclosed proxy card or you may vote in person at the special meeting. Additionally, you may submit a proxy authorizing the voting of your shares over the Internet or telephonically. Proxies submitted over the Internet or by telephone must be received by 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on , 2008. You must have the enclosed proxy card available, and follow the instructions on the proxy card, in order to submit a proxy over the Internet or telephone. Based on your Internet or telephone proxy, the proxy holders will vote your shares according to your directions. |
If your shares are held in “street name” through a broker or bank, you may vote through your broker or bank by completing and returning the voting form provided by your broker or bank, or by the Internet or telephone through your broker or bank if such a service is provided. To vote via the Internet or telephone through your broker or bank, you should follow the instructions on the voting form provided by your broker or bank.
| Q: |
What happens if I do not return my proxy card, submit my proxy via the Internet or telephone or attend the special meeting and vote in person? |
| A: |
If you do not return your proxy card, submit your proxy via the Internet or telephone or attend the special meeting and vote in person, it will have the same effect as if you voted “AGAINST” adoption of the merger agreement. Adoption of the merger agreement requires the affirmative vote of the holders of two-thirds of the outstanding shares of Common Stock and two-thirds of the outstanding shares of Class B Common Stock, each voting as a separate class. Failure to vote will have no effect on the outcome of any proposal to adjourn the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies, assuming a quorum is otherwise present at the special meeting. |
| Q: |
May I change my vote after I have mailed my signed proxy card? |
| A: |
Yes. You may revoke your proxy at any time before your proxy card is voted at the special meeting. You can do this in one of three ways. |
| • | First, you can deliver a written notice bearing a date later than the proxy you previously delivered stating that you would like to revoke your proxy. |
| • | Second, you can complete, execute and deliver a new, later-dated proxy card for the same shares. If you submitted the proxy you are seeking to revoke via the Internet or telephone, you may submit this later-dated new proxy using the same method of transmission (Internet or telephone) as the proxy being revoked, provided the new proxy is received by 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on , 2008. |
| • | Third, you can attend the meeting and vote in person. Your attendance at the special meeting alone will not revoke your proxy. |
Any written notice of revocation or subsequent proxy should be delivered to Computershare Trust Company, N.A., our transfer agent, or hand-delivered to our Secretary at or before the taking of the vote at the special meeting.
If you have instructed a broker to vote your shares, you must follow directions received from your broker to change those instructions.
iii
| Q: |
How do I vote my shares held under the Wrigley Savings Plan? |
| A: |
Participants in the Wrigley Savings Plan who have shares of our Common Stock and/or Class B Common Stock allocated to their account under the Wrigley Savings Plan are entitled to provide voting instructions with respect to those shares that are allocated to their account. The trustee of the Wrigley Savings Plan will vote the shares of our Common Stock and/or Class B Common Stock allocated to a participant’s account in accordance with the participant’s instructions that are timely received. |
If you are a participant and you choose to provide voting instructions by mail, you may provide such instructions simply by completing, signing, dating and returning your enclosed proxy card. Participants also may provide voting instructions either via the Internet or telephonically. If you are a participant and you choose to provide voting instructions via the Internet or telephonically, you should follow the procedures and instructions on the enclosed proxy card. The deadline for providing voting instructions to the trustee via the Internet or telephonically is 1:00 am on , 2008.
Any allocated shares of our Common Stock and/or Class B Common Stock held in the Wrigley Savings Plan for which participant instructions are not timely received by the trustee will be voted by the trustee in the same proportion as it votes the shares for which voting instructions have been timely received.
| Q: |
If my broker holds my shares in “street name,” will my broker vote my shares for me? |
| A: |
No. Your broker will not be able to vote your shares without instructions from you. You should instruct your broker to vote your shares following the procedure provided by your broker. Without instructions, your shares will not be voted, which will have the same effect as if you voted against adoption of the merger agreement but will have no effect on the proposal to adjourn the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies. |
| Q: |
What should I do if I receive more than one set of voting materials? |
| A: |
Please complete, sign, date and return (or submit your proxy via the Internet or telephone for) each proxy card and voting instruction card that you receive. You may receive more than one set of voting materials, including multiple copies of this proxy statement and multiple proxy cards or voting instruction cards. For example, if you hold your shares in more than one brokerage account, you will receive a separate voting instruction card for each brokerage account in which you hold shares. If you are a stockholder of record and your shares are registered in more than one name, you will receive more than one proxy card. |
| Q: |
What happens if I sell or otherwise transfer my shares of Wrigley Common Stock or Class B Common Stock before the special meeting? |
| A: |
The record date for the special meeting is earlier than the date of the special meeting and the date the merger is expected to be completed. If you sell or otherwise transfer your shares of Wrigley Common Stock or Class B Common Stock after the record date but before the special meeting, you will retain your right to vote at the special meeting, but you will transfer the right to receive the merger consideration. Even if you sell or otherwise transfer your shares of Wrigley Common Stock or Class B Common Stock after the record date, we urge you to complete, sign, date and return the enclosed proxy or submit your proxy via the Internet or telephone. |
| Q: |
Who will count the votes? |
| A: |
Representatives from Computershare Trust Company, N.A., our transfer agent, will count the votes and serve as our inspectors of election. The inspectors of election will be present at the meeting. |
| Q: |
Will the merger be taxable to me? |
| A: |
The receipt of cash in exchange for your shares of Wrigley Common Stock or Class B Common Stock pursuant to the merger will be a taxable transaction for U.S. federal income tax |
iv
| purposes, and may also be a taxable transaction under applicable state, local or foreign income or other tax laws. Generally, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, a U.S. stockholder will recognize gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount of cash received by that stockholder in the merger and that stockholder’s adjusted tax basis in the shares of Wrigley Common Stock or Class B Common Stock exchanged for cash in the merger. Because individual circumstances may differ, we recommend that you consult your own tax advisor to determine the particular tax effects to you. See “The Merger — Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences of the Merger” beginning on page 56. |
| Q: |
When do you expect the merger to be completed? |
| A: |
We are working toward completing the merger as quickly as possible and currently expect to consummate the merger later this year or in the first quarter of 2009. However, the exact timing and likelihood of completion of the merger cannot be predicted because the merger is subject to certain conditions, including adoption of the merger agreement by our stockholders, the receipt of regulatory approvals and conclusion of a thirty day marketing period that Holdings may use to complete its financing for the merger (for a description of the marketing period, see “The Merger Agreement—Effective Time; The Marketing Period” beginning on page 60). |
| Q: |
What regulatory approvals and filings are needed to complete the merger? |
| A: |
The merger is subject to compliance with the applicable requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, or the “HSR Act,” approval by the European Commission under the European Community Merger Regulation No. 139/2004 or the “EC Merger Regulation,” and clearance under the antitrust laws of Canada and Australia applicable to the merger. See “The Merger—Regulatory Matters” beginning on page 57. |
| Q: |
Should I send in my stock certificates now? |
| A: |
No. After the merger is consummated, you will receive detailed written instructions for exchanging your shares of Common Stock or Class B Common Stock for the merger consideration of $80.00 in cash, without interest and less any applicable withholding tax, for each share of Common Stock or Class B Common Stock you hold. |
| Q: |
Who can help answer my questions? |
| A: |
If you would like additional copies, without charge, of this proxy statement or if you have questions about the merger, including the procedures for voting your shares, you should contact: |
Innisfree M&A Incorporated at (877) 825-8631 or Stockholder Relations, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, Wrigley Building, 410 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611, Telephone: (800) 874-0474.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the “SEC,” nor any state securities regulatory agency has approved or disapproved the merger, passed upon the merits or fairness of the merger or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of the disclosures in this proxy statement. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
v
This summary highlights selected information from this proxy statement and may not contain all of the information that is important to you. To understand the merger more fully and for a more complete description of the legal terms of the merger, you should read carefully this entire proxy statement, the annexes to this proxy statement and the documents we refer to in this proxy statement. See “Where You Can Find More Information” beginning on page 84. The merger agreement is attached as Annex A to this proxy statement. We encourage you to read the merger agreement, which is the legal document that governs the merger.
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
Wrigley Building
410 North Michigan Avenue
Telephone: (312) 644-2121
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company is a recognized leader in confections with a wide range of product offerings including gum, mints, hard and chewy candies, lollipops and chocolate. The Company had global sales of $5.4 billion in 2007 and distributes its world-famous brands in more than 180 countries. Three of these brands – Wrigley’s Spearmint®, Juicy Fruit® and Altoids® – have heritages stretching back more than a century. Other well-loved brands include Doublemint®, Life Savers®, Big Red®, Boomer®, Pim Pom®, Winterfresh®, Extra®, Freedent®, Hubba Bubba®, Orbit®, Excel®, Creme Savers®, Eclipse®, Airwaves®, Solano®, Sugus®, P.K.®, Cool Air® and 5™.
Mars, Incorporated
6885 Elm Street
Telephone: (703) 821-4900
Mars, Incorporated is a private family company, the control of all the stock of which rests with the family of Forrest E. Mars, Sr. Mars produces some of the world’s leading confectionery, food and petcare products and has growing drinks and health & nutrition businesses. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Mars operates in more than 66 countries and employs more than 48,000 associates worldwide. Mars’ global sales were $22 billion in 2007. Founded in 1911, Mars manufactures and markets a variety of products under many of the world’s most recognizable trademarks, including DOVE®, MILKY WAY® , M&M’S®, SNICKERS®, MARS®, UNCLE BEN’S® Rice, ROYAL CANIN®, PEDIGREE® and WHISKAS®.
New Uno Holdings Corporation
c/o Mars, Incorporated
6885 Elm Street
Telephone: (703) 821-4900
New Uno Holdings Corporation was formed by Mars solely for the purpose of entering into the merger agreement and completing the merger and the other transactions contemplated by the merger agreement. Holdings has not conducted any business operations other than in connection with the transactions contemplated by the merger agreement.
New Uno Acquisition Corporation
c/o Mars, Incorporated 6885 Elm Street
Telephone: (703) 821-4900
1
New Uno Acquisition Corporation was formed by Holdings solely for the purpose of entering into the merger agreement and completing the merger and the other transactions contemplated by the merger agreement. Merger Sub has not conducted any business operations other than in connection with the transactions contemplated by the merger agreement. Upon consummation of the merger, Merger Sub will cease to exist and Wrigley will continue as the surviving corporation.
Merger Consideration (page 61)
If the merger is completed, you will be entitled to receive $80.00 in cash, without interest and less any applicable withholding tax, in exchange for each share of Wrigley Common Stock or Class B Common Stock that you own immediately prior to the effective time of the merger and for which you have not properly exercised appraisal rights.
After the merger is completed, you will have the right to receive the merger consideration, but you will no longer have any rights as a Wrigley stockholder as a result of the merger. Wrigley stockholders will receive the merger consideration in exchange for their Wrigley stock in accordance with the instructions contained in the letter of transmittal to be sent to holders of our Common Stock and Class B Common Stock shortly after closing of the merger.
Treatment of Stock Options and Other Equity-Based Awards (page 62)
Stock Options
At the effective time of the merger, each outstanding option, whether or not vested or exercisable, to acquire our Common Stock will be adjusted under the applicable plan and converted into the right of the holder to receive an amount in cash, without interest and less any applicable withholding tax, payable promptly following the effective time, equal to the product of:
| • | the total number of shares of Common Stock covered by such option, multiplied by |
| • | the excess of $80.00 over the exercise price per share of each such option. |
Restricted Stock Unit Awards
At the effective time of the merger, each outstanding restricted stock unit award will be adjusted under the applicable plan and converted into the right to receive $80.00 in cash per restricted stock unit, to the extent vested by its terms at the effective time of the merger, without interest and less any applicable withholding tax, payable promptly following the effective time. Any such outstanding restricted stock unit awards that are not so vested will be forfeited at the effective time of the merger.
Deferred Stock Accounts
At the effective time of the merger, each notional share under any deferred compensation plan will be adjusted under the applicable plan and converted into the right to receive $80.00 in cash per notional share, without interest and less any applicable withholding tax, payable at the time specified in the applicable plan.
Long-Term Stock Grants
At the effective time of the merger, each outstanding stock unit award granted under the Company’s Long-Term Stock Grant Program will be adjusted under the applicable plan and converted into the right to receive an amount in cash equal to the product of (x) the number of shares subject to such stock unit, to the extent earned and satisfying the applicable performance conditions at the effective time of the merger in respect of the portion of the performance or grant cycle that has elapsed through the effective time, and (y) $80.00, without interest and less any applicable withholding tax, payable promptly following the effective time. Any such outstanding stock unit awards that do not become so earned will be forfeited at the effective time of the merger.
2
Market Prices and Dividend Data (page 13)
Our Common Stock is quoted on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WWY.” On April 25, 2008, the last full trading day before the public announcement of the merger, the closing price for our Common Stock was $62.45 per share and on May 22, 2008, the latest practicable trading day before the filing of this proxy statement, the closing price for our Common Stock was $77.50 per share.
Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences of the Merger (page 56)
The exchange of shares of Common Stock or Class B Common Stock for the $80.00 per share cash merger consideration will be a taxable transaction to our stockholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
Tax matters can be complicated, and the tax consequences of the merger to you will depend on the facts of your own situation. We strongly recommend that you consult your own tax advisor to fully understand the tax consequences of the merger to you.
Recommendation of Wrigley’s Board of Directors and Reasons for the Merger (page 22)
Our board of directors unanimously recommends that you vote “FOR” adoption of the merger agreement and “FOR” adjournment of the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies if there are not sufficient votes in favor of adopting the merger agreement at the time of the special meeting. At a special meeting of our board of directors on April 27, 2008, our board of directors determined that the merger agreement and the merger are advisable and in the best interests of Wrigley’s stockholders and approved the merger agreement. In the course of reaching its decision over several board meetings, our board of directors consulted with our senior management, financial advisors and legal counsel, reviewed a significant amount of information and considered a number of factors. For a discussion of the factors considered by our board of directors in reaching its decision to approve the merger agreement and recommend that our stockholders adopt the merger agreement, see “The Merger—Recommendation of Wrigley’s Board of Directors and Reasons for the Merger” beginning on page 22.
Opinion of Goldman Sachs (page 27)
Goldman Sachs delivered its written opinion to Wrigley’s board of directors that, as of April 28, 2008, based upon and subject to the factors and assumptions set forth therein, the $80.00 per share in cash to be received by the holders (other than Holdings or its affiliates) of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, taken in the aggregate, pursuant to the merger agreement was fair from a financial point of view to such holders. Goldman Sachs did not express any opinion with respect to the allocation of the aggregate consideration among the holders of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock in the transaction.
The full text of the written opinion of Goldman Sachs, dated April 28, 2008, which sets forth assumptions made, procedures followed, matters considered and limitations on the review undertaken in connection with the opinion, is attached hereto as Annex B. Goldman Sachs provided its opinion for the information and assistance of Wrigley’s board of directors in connection with its consideration of the transaction. The Goldman Sachs opinion is not a recommendation as to how any holder of Common Stock or Class B Common Stock should vote with respect to the adoption of the merger agreement or any other matter. For a further discussion of Goldman Sachs’ opinion, see “The Merger—Opinion of Goldman Sachs” below.
Opinion of William Blair (page 37)
In connection with the merger, William Blair delivered a written opinion to Wrigley’s board of directors to the effect that, as of April 27, 2008 and based upon and subject to the assumptions,
3
procedures, factors, limitations and qualifications set forth in the opinion, the merger consideration to be received by the holders of the outstanding shares of Wrigley Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, collectively, pursuant to the merger agreement was fair, from a financial point of view, to those holders (other than Holdings or its affiliates). William Blair did not express any opinion with respect to the allocation of the merger consideration to be paid in the merger among the holders of Common Stock and the holders of Class B Common Stock, respectively.
The full text of the written opinion of William Blair, dated April 27, 2008, which sets forth assumptions made, procedures followed, matters considered and limitations on the review undertaken in connection with the opinion, is attached hereto as Annex C. William Blair provided its opinion for the information and assistance of Wrigley’s board of directors in connection with its consideration of the transaction. William Blair’s opinion is not a recommendation as to how any holder of Common Stock or Class B Common Stock should vote with respect to the adoption of the merger agreement or any other matter. For a further discussion of William Blair’s opinion, see “The Merger—Opinion of William Blair” below.
Date, Time and Place
A special meeting of our stockholders will be held on , 2008 at , at , Chicago time, to:
| • | consider and vote upon adoption of the merger agreement; |
| • | consider and vote upon a proposal to adjourn the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies if there are not sufficient votes in favor of adopting the merger agreement at the time of the special meeting; and |
| • | transact such other business as may properly come before the meeting or any adjournment of the meeting. |
Record Date; Shares Entitled to Vote; Quorum
You are entitled to vote at the special meeting if you owned shares of our Common Stock or Class B Common Stock at the close of business on , 2008, the record date for the special meeting. You will have one vote at the special meeting for each share of our Common Stock you owned at the close of business on the record date. You will have ten votes at the special meeting for each share of our Class B Common Stock you owned at the close of business on the record date. As of the record date, there were shares of our Common Stock and shares of our Class B Common Stock entitled to be voted at the special meeting. A quorum of stockholders is necessary to hold a valid special meeting. Under our by-laws, a quorum is present at the special meeting if holders of a majority of votes entitled to be cast represented by the shares of our Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, taken as a single class, outstanding and entitled to vote on the record date are present in person or represented by proxy, taken as a single class.
Vote Required
The adoption of the merger agreement requires the affirmative vote of the holders of two-thirds of the shares of Common Stock and two-thirds of the shares of Class B Common Stock outstanding at the close of business on the record date, each voting as a separate class. Approval of any proposal to adjourn the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies if there are not sufficient votes in favor of adopting the merger agreement at the time of the special meeting requires the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the total number of votes entitled to be cast in
4
respect of the shares of our Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, present in person or represented by proxy at the special meeting, voting as a single class, provided a quorum is present in person or represented by proxy at the special meeting.
Interests of Wrigley’s Directors and Executive Officers in the Merger (page 45)
When considering the recommendation of Wrigley’s board of directors, you should be aware that members of Wrigley’s board of directors and Wrigley’s executive officers have interests in the merger other than their interests as Wrigley stockholders generally, including those described below. These interests may be different from, or in conflict with, your interests as Wrigley’s stockholders. The members of our board of directors were aware of these additional interests, and considered them, when they approved the merger agreement.
| • | Our directors and executive officers will have their outstanding stock options, whether or not vested or exercisable, adjusted under the applicable plan and converted into the right to receive an amount in cash, without interest and less any applicable withholding tax, equal to the product of the excess of $80.00 over the exercise price per share of each such option, multiplied by the total number of shares of our Common Stock covered by such option. As of May 9, 2008, our directors and executive officers held, in the aggregate, in-the-money stock options to acquire 4,695,091 shares of our Common Stock, and the aggregate amount of such cash payments will be approximately $137,472,948. |
| • | Our directors and executive officers will have each of their outstanding restricted stock unit awards granted prior to May 13, 2008 fully vest and be adjusted under the applicable plan and converted into the right to receive the merger consideration of $80.00 in cash per restricted stock unit, without interest and less any applicable withholding tax. As of May 9, 2008, our directors and executive officers held, in the aggregate, 6,225 restricted stock units, and the aggregate amount of such cash payments will be approximately $498,000. |
| • | Our directors and executive officers will have each of the outstanding restricted stock unit awards that were granted on or after May 13, 2008 adjusted under the applicable plan and converted into the right to receive an amount in cash equal to the product of (x) the number of shares subject to such stock unit, to the extent vested by its terms at the effective time of the merger and (y) $80.00, without interest and less any applicable withholding tax. These restricted stock units provide for pro rata vesting upon the occurrence of the merger, pro rated based on the portion of the four-year vesting period that has elapsed through the effective time of the merger. Any such outstanding restricted stock unit awards that are not so vested at the effective time of the merger will be forfeited at the effective time of the merger. Assuming the effective time of merger to be December 31, 2008, we estimate that the aggregate amount of such cash payment to our directors and executive officers (other than Messrs. Hempstead and Kumar, whose awards are discussed below) will be approximately $2,209,760. |
| • | Our directors and executive officers will have each of their notional shares under any deferred compensation plan adjusted under the applicable plan and converted under the plan into the right to receive $80.00 in cash per notional share, without interest and less any applicable withholding tax. As of May 9, 2008, we estimate that our directors and executive officers held approximately 535,550 notional shares under these deferral programs, and that the aggregate amount of such adjusted account balances held by our directors and executive officers will be approximately $42,844,000. |
| • | Our executive officers will have each of their outstanding stock unit awards granted under our Long-Term Stock Grant Program adjusted under the applicable plan and converted into the right to receive an amount in cash equal to the product of (x) the number of shares subject to such stock unit, to the extent earned and satisfying the applicable performance conditions at the effective time of the merger in respect of the portion of the performance period or grant cycle that |
5
| has elapsed through the effective time of the merger, and (y) $80.00, without interest and less any applicable withholding tax. Any such outstanding stock unit awards that do not become so earned will be forfeited at the effective time of the merger. Assuming the effective time of the merger to be December 31, 2008, we estimate that the aggregate amount of such cash payment to our executive officers (assuming achievement of performance goals at maximum as of the effective time of the merger) will be approximately $48,974,320. |
| • | Our executive officers who remain employed through the effective time of the merger, and whose May 13, 2008 restricted stock unit awards vest on a pro rata basis at the effective time of the merger (other than Messrs. Hempstead and Kumar), will be granted a cash retention award equal to the product of (x) the sum of (i) number of shares subject to the restricted stock units granted on May 13, 2008 that are forfeited as of the effective time of the merger and (ii) fifty percent (50%) of the total number of shares that were issuable pursuant to the original number of restricted stock units granted to such individual on May 13, 2008 and (y) $80.00, without interest and less applicable withholding tax. Subject to continued employment through the second anniversary of the effective time of the merger, these cash retention awards will generally be paid in a lump sum on the second anniversary date of the closing of the merger; provided, that in the event any executive officer’s employment is terminated by the Company (or any successor) without “cause” or by reason of such executive officer’s death or disability following the effective time of the merger but prior to such second anniversary, such executive officer would be paid the cash retention award at the time of such termination. These cash retention bonuses will not be awarded to Messrs. Hempstead and Kumar each of whom had announced their plans to retire in July 2008 prior to the events leading up to the merger agreement. Instead Messrs. Hempstead and Kumar were awarded restricted stock units in May 2008 which are subject to a four year time-based vesting schedule and that contain special retirement vesting provisions. |
| • | Our current executive officers have entered into agreements with us that provide certain severance payments and benefits and “gross-up” payments related thereto in the event of his or her termination of employment under certain circumstances. |
| • | The merger agreement provides for indemnification arrangements for each of our current and former directors and officers that will continue for six years following the effective time of the merger, as well as for insurance coverage covering his or her service to Wrigley as a director or officer. |
| • | The merger agreement provides that the officers of Wrigley immediately prior to the consummation of the merger will be the initial officers of the surviving corporation in the merger. In addition, the merger agreement provides that, following the effective time of the merger, Mr. Wrigley Jr., our Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board, will be designated the Executive Chairman (and senior most executive officer) of the surviving corporation. |
| • | Although no agreements have been entered into at this time, we have been informed that Holdings plans to initiate discussions with members of our existing executive team regarding employment with the surviving corporation in the merger. Prior to completion of the merger, members of our existing executive team may enter into new agreements and/or amendments to existing severance agreements with Holdings or Merger Sub regarding employment with the surviving corporation in the merger. |
Conditions to the Closing of the Merger (page 75)
Each party’s obligation to effect the merger is subject to the satisfaction or, to the extent permitted, waiver of various conditions, which include the following:
| • | the merger agreement is adopted by our stockholders at the special meeting; |
6
| • | the absence of federal, state, local or foreign governmental orders that prohibit, restrain or enjoin the consummation of the merger; and |
| • | the waiting period under the HSR Act has expired or been terminated and all approvals required under any antitrust laws applicable to the merger in the European Union and Canada have been obtained or any waiting periods thereunder have terminated or expired. |
Holdings and Merger Sub will not be obligated to effect the merger unless the following additional conditions are satisfied or waived:
| • | each of our representations and warranties is true and correct as of the effective time of the merger to the extent required under the merger agreement as described below under the heading “The Merger Agreement—Conditions to Closing of the Merger” beginning on page 75; |
| • | we have performed in all material respects our obligations, and complied in all material respects with our agreements and covenants, required to be performed by, or complied with by, us under the merger agreement at or prior to the effective time of the merger; |
| • | Holdings has received a certificate signed by our Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer or Chief Financial Officer certifying that the conditions described in the preceding two bullets have been satisfied; and |
| • | all required approvals required under any antitrust laws applicable to the merger in Australia have been obtained or any waiting period thereunder has terminated or expired. |
We will not be obligated to effect the merger unless the following additional conditions are satisfied or waived:
| • | each of the representations and warranties of Holdings and Merger Sub is true and correct as of the effective time of the merger to the extent required under the merger agreement as described below under the heading “The Merger Agreement—Conditions to Closing of the Merger” beginning on page 75; |
| • | each of Holdings and Merger Sub has performed in all material respects all of their respective obligations, and complied in all material respects with all of their respective agreements and covenants, required to be performed by, or complied with by, them under the merger agreement at or prior to the effective time of the merger; and |
| • | we have received a certificate signed by a senior executive officer of each of Holdings and Merger Sub certifying that the conditions described in the preceding two bullets have been satisfied. |
Limitation on Consideration of Other Acquisition Proposals (page 69)
The merger agreement restricts our ability to initiate, solicit or knowingly encourage or facilitate any inquiries or the making of any proposal or offer regarding specified transactions involving the Company. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the merger agreement, prior to adoption of the merger agreement by our stockholders and subject to the terms and conditions of the merger agreement, our board of directors may engage in discussions with, and provide certain information to, any person who has made an unsolicited bona fide acquisition proposal that our board of directors has determined in good faith, after consultation with its outside legal counsel and its financial advisors, constitutes, or would be reasonably expected to constitute or result in, a superior proposal, and with respect to which our board of directors has determined in good faith that failure to take such action would be inconsistent with its fiduciary duties under applicable law.
Pursuant to the terms of the merger agreement, our board of directors is not permitted to make a change in recommendation, unless:
| • | the board of directors has determined in good faith, after consultation with its outside legal counsel, that such action is necessary to act in a manner consistent with its fiduciary duties; and |
7
| • | we have provided Holdings with at least three business days’ prior written notice of such change in recommendation. |
Termination of the Merger Agreement (page 76)
We or Holdings can terminate the merger agreement:
| • | by the mutual written agreement of us, Holdings and Merger Sub; |
| • | if any governmental entity has issued a final order, decree or ruling or taken any other final action restraining, enjoining or otherwise prohibiting the merger and such order, decree, ruling or other action is or has become final and non-appealable; |
| • | if the merger has not been consummated by April 30, 2009, except that this termination right will not be available to a party if any action of such party or the failure of such party to perform any of its obligations under the merger agreement has been the cause of, or resulted in, the failure of the merger to occur prior to such date and such action or failure to perform constitutes a breach of the merger agreement; or |
| • | if, upon a vote taken at the special meeting or any postponement or adjournment thereof, the merger agreement is not adopted by our stockholders. |
We can also terminate the merger agreement:
| • | upon a breach of any representation, warranty, covenant or agreement on the part of Holdings or Merger Sub such that the related conditions to our obligations to consummate the merger would not be satisfied, except that we may not use this termination right if such breach is curable by April 30, 2009, and provided that we are not in material breach of our covenants and agreements in the merger agreement and we give Holdings at least 30 days prior written notice of our intention to terminate the merger agreement; |
| • | if all the conditions to the obligations of Holdings and Merger Sub to consummate the merger are satisfied, and Holdings fails to consummate the merger on or prior to the final day of the marketing period (for a description of the marketing period, see “The Merger Agreement—Effective Time; The Marketing Period” beginning on page 60); or |
| • | prior to our stockholders having adopted the merger agreement, in order to accept an unsolicited superior proposal, subject to the terms of the merger agreement. |
Holdings can also terminate the merger agreement:
| • | upon a breach of any representation, warranty, covenant or agreement on the part of the Company such that the related conditions to Holdings’ and Merger Sub’s obligations to consummate the merger would not be satisfied, except that Holdings may not use this termination right if such breach is curable by April 30, 2009, and provided that Holdings and Merger Sub are not in material breach of their covenants and agreements in the merger agreement and Holdings gives us at least 30 days prior written notice of its intention to terminate the merger agreement; or |
| • | if our board of directors or any committee of our board of directors has made a change of recommendation or recommended, adopted or approved, or publicly proposed to recommend, adopt or approve, another acquisition proposal or a document related to such acquisition proposal. |
Termination Fees and Expenses and Remedies (page 77)
The merger agreement requires that we pay Holdings a termination fee of $690 million if:
| • | prior to stockholder adoption of the merger agreement, subject to the terms of the merger agreement, we terminate the merger agreement due to the receipt of certain unsolicited |
8
| acquisition proposals that constitute a superior proposal, but only after we have provided notice to Holdings regarding the superior proposal and provided Holdings with at least four business days (during which we must negotiate in good faith with Holdings) to enable Holdings to make an offer that results in the unsolicited acquisition proposal no longer being a superior proposal; |
| • | Holdings has terminated the merger agreement because our board of directors made a change in its recommendation of the approval of the merger agreement or recommended, adopted or approved, or publicly proposed to recommend, adopt or approve, another acquisition proposal or document related to such acquisition proposal; |
| • | the merger agreement is terminated (i) by us or Holdings if, upon a vote taken at the special meeting or any postponement or adjournment thereof, the merger agreement shall not have been adopted, (ii) by us or Holdings because the merger is not completed on or prior to April 30, 2009 or (iii) by Holdings due to a material breach by us of our representations, warranties, covenants or agreements such that the related conditions to Holdings’ and Merger Sub’s obligations to consummate the merger would not be satisfied and such breach cannot be cured by April 30, 2009; and, in each case, |
| ¡ | an acquisition proposal has been made or made known to us or publicly announced or publicly made known to our stockholders and has not been withdrawn prior to the vote taken in the case of clause (i), prior to the termination in the case of clause (ii) or prior to the breach giving rise to Holdings’ right to terminate in the case of clause (iii); and |
| ¡ | within 12 months after the termination, we enter into a definitive agreement with respect to any acquisition proposal or any acquisition proposal is completed. |
The merger agreement requires that Mars pay us a termination fee of $1 billion if:
| • | we terminate the merger agreement because there has been a breach of any representation, warranty, covenant or agreement on the part of Holdings or Merger Sub such that the related conditions to our obligations to effect the closing would not be satisfied and such breach cannot be cured by April 30, 2009, provided that we are not in material breach of our covenants and agreements in the merger agreement and we give Holdings at least 30 days prior written notice of our intention to terminate the merger agreement (and at the time of such termination there is no state of facts or circumstances (other than caused by or arising out of Holdings’ and Merger Sub’s breach) that would reasonably be expected to cause the mutual closing conditions and the conditions to the obligations of Holdings and Merger Sub to effect the closing to be satisfied on or prior to April 30, 2009); |
| • | all other conditions have been satisfied and Holdings fails to consummate the merger on or prior to the final day of the marketing period; or |
| • | we or Holdings terminate the merger agreement because (i) the closing has not occurred on or before April 30, 2009 due to the failure to satisfy certain closing conditions due to the failure to receive any required consent or clearance under applicable antitrust laws from a governmental entity of a competent jurisdiction or any action by any governmental entity of a competent jurisdiction to prevent the merger for antitrust reasons or (ii) a governmental entity has issued a final order, decree or ruling or taken any other final action restraining, enjoining or otherwise prohibiting the merger that is or has become final and non-appealable due to the denial of any approval required under applicable antitrust laws or the taking of any other action by any antitrust or competition governmental entity if, in either case, all of the other mutual conditions to closing and the conditions to the obligations of Holdings and Merger Sub to effect the closing (other than those conditions that by their terms are to be satisfied at the closing but which conditions would be satisfied if the closing date of the merger were the date of such termination) have been satisfied. |
9
This termination fee from Mars is our and our affiliates’ sole and exclusive remedy against Mars, Holdings, Merger Sub and their affiliates or any of their related persons for any loss or damage suffered as a result of the failure of the merger to be consummated or for a breach or failure to perform under the merger agreement or otherwise, except that Holdings will also be obligated under the provisions of the merger agreement relating to confidentiality and Mars will also be obligated to reimburse the Company for certain expenses and indemnify the Company against certain financing related liabilities. Mars’ sole obligation under and in respect of the merger agreement and the transactions contemplated by the merger agreement are limited to payment of the termination fee and the expense reimbursement and indemnity obligations described above, which will terminate under the circumstances described in the merger agreement. We are not entitled to seek specific performance of the merger agreement.
The total amount of funds necessary to complete the merger and the related transactions is anticipated to be approximately $23 billion, including the assumption, refinancing, repayment or redemption of certain of our outstanding indebtedness and the payment of customary fees and expenses in connection with the proposed merger and financing arrangements. These amounts are expected to be funded by new credit facilities, private offerings of debt securities and equity financing.
Holdings has received an equity commitment from Mars, pursuant to which Mars has agreed to purchase, or cause the purchase of, equity securities of Holdings for an aggregate purchase price of $11.6 billion, subject to reduction if the entire amount of such equity commitment is not needed in order to consummate the merger and to other conditions contained in the commitment. In addition, Mars has received a debt commitment from JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. (collectively, “JPMorgan”), Bank of America, N.A., Banc of America Private Placement Funding Group, LLC, Banc of America Securities LLC, BNP Paribas, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Citibank, N.A., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank AG New York Branch, Deutsche Bank AG Cayman Islands Branch, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Lloyds TSB Bank plc, The Royal Bank of Scotland plc and RBS Securities Corporation d/b/a RBS Greenwich Capital to provide up to $12 billion in aggregate debt financing, substantially all of the proceeds that are drawn on the closing date will be used to finance Mars’ equity investment in Holdings.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (“Berkshire Hathaway”) has provided a commitment letter pursuant to which Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to invest $2.1 billion in equity securities of the surviving corporation in the merger or one or more acquisition parent companies of the surviving corporation in the merger and to provide to the surviving corporation in the merger $4.4 billion in subordinated debt financing.
Merger Sub has received a debt commitment from Goldman Sachs Credit Partners L.P. to provide up to $5.7 billion in aggregate debt financing.
The HSR Act prohibits us from completing the merger until we have furnished certain information and materials to the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission and the required waiting period has expired or been terminated. The parties filed their respective notification and report forms pursuant to the HSR Act with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission on May 21, 2008. The merger is also subject to review by the European Commission and the Commissioner of Competition in Canada pursuant to the Competition Act, as well as clearance under the antitrust laws of Australia and other foreign jurisdictions. We intend to submit the appropriate notifications and are pursuing the approval of the transaction.
10
Under Delaware law, holders of our Common Stock and Class B Common Stock are entitled to exercise appraisal rights in connection with the merger.
If you do not vote in favor of adoption of the merger agreement and instead perfect your appraisal rights under Delaware law, you will have the right to a judicial appraisal of the “fair value” of your shares in connection with the merger in lieu of receiving the merger consideration. This value could be more than, less than or the same as the value of the right to receive merger consideration in the merger.
In order to preserve your appraisal rights, you must take all the steps provided under Delaware law within the appropriate time periods. Failure to follow exactly the procedures specified under Delaware law will result in the loss of appraisal rights. The relevant section of Delaware law regarding appraisal rights is reproduced and attached as Annex D to this proxy statement. We encourage you to read these provisions carefully and in their entirety.
ANY WRIGLEY STOCKHOLDER WHO WISHES TO EXERCISE APPRAISAL RIGHTS OR WHO WISHES TO PRESERVE HIS, HER OR ITS RIGHT TO DO SO SHOULD REVIEW ANNEX D CAREFULLY AND SHOULD CONSULT HIS, HER OR ITS LEGAL ADVISOR, SINCE FAILURE TO TIMELY COMPLY WITH THE PROCEDURES SET FORTH THEREIN WILL RESULT IN THE LOSS OF SUCH RIGHTS.
11
This proxy statement and the documents to which we refer you in this proxy statement contain statements which constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “believes,” “expects,” “may,” “estimates,” “will,” “should,” “plans” or “anticipates” or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy. Stockholders are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and may involve significant risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may vary materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, without limitation:
| • | the occurrence of any event, change or circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement and the possibility that the Company would be required to pay a $690 million termination fee in connection therewith; |
| • | the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against the Company and others related to the merger agreement; |
| • | risks that the regulatory approvals required to complete the merger will not be obtained in a timely manner, if at all; |
| • | the inability to complete the merger due to the failure to obtain stockholder approval or failure to satisfy the other conditions to the completion of the merger; |
| • | risks that the proposed transaction disrupts current plans and operations or affects our ability to retain or recruit key employees; |
| • | the availability or retention of retail space; |
| • | the availability of raw materials; |
| • | changes in demographics and consumer preferences; |
| • | changes in foreign currency and market conditions; |
| • | increased competition and discounting and other competitive actions; |
| • | underutilization of or inadequate manufacturing capacity and labor stoppages; |
| • | governmental regulations; and |
| • | the outcome of integrating acquired businesses. |
Our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007 identifies other factors that could cause such differences (see Item 1A. “Risk Factors” therein). No assurance can be given that these are all of the factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from the forward-looking statements.
Wrigley undertakes no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Stockholders are advised, however, to consult any future disclosures Wrigley makes on related subjects as may be detailed in Wrigley’s other filings made from time to time with the SEC.
12
MARKET PRICES AND DIVIDEND DATA
Our Common Stock is listed on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WWY.” This table shows, for the periods indicated, the range of intraday high and low per share sales prices for our Common Stock as reported on The New York Stock Exchange and the frequency and amount of cash dividends declared on our Common Stock.
| Fiscal Quarters | ||||||||||||
| First | Second | Third | Fourth | |||||||||
| Fiscal Year ending December 31, 2008 (through May 22, 2008) |
||||||||||||
| High |
$ | 62.94 | $ | 77.62 | — | — | ||||||
| Low |
$ | 54.11 | $ | 61.65 | — | — | ||||||
| Dividends Declared |
$ | 0.335 | $ | 0.335 | — | — | ||||||
| Fiscal Year ended December 31, 2007 |
||||||||||||
| High |
$ | 52.47 | $ | 59.12 | $ | 64.51 | $ | 68.44 | ||||
| Low |
$ | 48.89 | $ | 50.84 | $ | 55.09 | $ | 58.55 | ||||
| Dividends Declared |
$ | 0.29 | $ | 0.29 | $ | 0.29 | $ | 0.29 | ||||
| Fiscal Year ended December 31, 2006 |
||||||||||||
| High |
$ | 54.54 | $ | 51.19 | $ | 47.78 | $ | 53.23 | ||||
| Low |
$ | 49.69 | $ | 44.52 | $ | 43.16 | $ | 45.35 | ||||
| Dividends Declared |
$ | 0.256 | $ | 0.256 | $ | 0.256 | $ | 0.256 | ||||
The following table sets forth the closing price per share of our Common Stock, as reported on The New York Stock Exchange on April 25, 2008, the last full trading day before the public announcement of the merger agreement, and on May 22, 2008 the latest practicable trading day before the filing of this proxy statement:
| Common Stock | ||
| $64.25 | ||
| $77.50 |
You are encouraged to obtain current market quotations for the Common Stock in connection with voting your shares. If the merger is consummated, there will be no further market for our Common Stock and our stock will be delisted from The New York Stock Exchange and deregistered under the Exchange Act.
We are limited in our ability to declare and pay dividends on our Common Stock by the merger agreement, which provides that we will not pay any dividend except for regularly quarterly cash dividends in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice (and subject to the other limitations specified in the merger agreement) not to exceed $0.335 per share of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock. On May 13, 2008, our board of directors approved a dividend of $0.335 per share of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock payable on August 1, 2008 to stockholders of record on July 15, 2008.
13
The enclosed proxy is solicited on behalf of the board of directors of Wrigley for use at the special meeting of stockholders or at any adjournment or postponement thereof.
We will hold the special meeting at , at , Chicago time, on , 2008.
Purpose of the Special Meeting
At the special meeting, we will ask our stockholders to adopt the merger agreement as it may be amended from time to time and, if there are not sufficient votes in favor of adoption of the merger agreement, to adjourn the special meeting to a later date, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies. At this time, we know of no other matters to be submitted to our stockholders at the special meeting. If any other matters properly come before the special meeting or any adjournment or postponement of the special meeting, it is the intention of the persons named in the enclosed proxy card to vote the shares they represent in accordance with their judgment.
Record Date; Shares Entitled to Vote; Quorum
Only holders of record of our Common Stock and Class B Common Stock at the close of business on , 2008, the record date, are entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the special meeting. On the record date, shares of our Common Stock and shares of our Class B Common Stock were issued and outstanding and held by approximately and holders of record, respectively. Holders of record of our Common Stock on the record date are entitled to one vote per share at the special meeting on the proposal to adopt the merger agreement and the proposal to adjourn the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies. Holders of record of our Class B Common Stock on the record date are entitled to ten votes per share at the special meeting on the proposal to adopt the merger agreement and the proposal to adjourn the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies.
A quorum of stockholders is necessary to hold a valid special meeting. Under our by-laws, a quorum is present at the special meeting if holders of a majority of votes entitled to be cast represented by the shares of our Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, taken as a single class, outstanding and entitled to vote on the record date are present in person or represented by proxy, taken as a single class. In the event that a quorum is not present at the special meeting, it is expected that the meeting will be adjourned to solicit additional proxies. For purposes of determining the presence or absence of a quorum, abstentions and “broker non-votes” (where a broker or nominee does not have discretionary authority to vote on a matter) will be counted as present.
Vote Required; Abstentions and Broker Non-Votes
Adoption of the merger agreement requires the affirmative vote of holders of two-thirds of the outstanding shares of Common Stock and two-thirds of the outstanding shares of Class B Common Stock, each voting as a separate class. Adoption of the merger agreement by the requisite vote of our stockholders is a condition to the consummation of the merger.
Approval of any proposal to adjourn the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies requires the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the total number of votes entitled to be cast in respect of the shares of our Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, present in person or represented by proxy, at the special meeting, voting as a single class.
If a Wrigley stockholder abstains from voting, it will have the same effect as a vote against adoption of the merger agreement but will have no effect on the proposal to adjourn the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies. Each “broker non-vote” will also have the same effect as a vote against adoption of the merger agreement but will have no effect on the proposal to adjourn the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies.
14
Shares Held by Wrigley’s Directors and Executive Officers
At the close of business on , 2008, our directors and executive officers and their affiliates beneficially owned and were entitled to vote shares of our Common Stock, which represented approximately % of the shares of our outstanding Common Stock on that date and shares of our Class B Common Stock, which represented approximately % of the shares of our outstanding Class B Common Stock on that date. Our directors and executive officers have informed us that they currently intend to vote all of their shares of our Common Stock and Class B Common Stock “FOR” adoption of the merger agreement and “FOR” the proposal to adjourn the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies.
If your shares are registered in your name, you may cause your shares to be voted by returning a signed proxy card or may vote in person at the special meeting. Additionally, you may submit a proxy authorizing the voting of your shares over the Internet or telephonically. Proxies submitted over the Internet or by telephone must be received by 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on , 2008. You must have the enclosed proxy card available, and follow the instructions on the proxy card, in order to submit a proxy over the Internet or telephone. Based on your Internet and telephone proxies, the proxy holders will vote your shares according to your directions.
If you plan to attend the special meeting and wish to vote in person, you will be given a ballot at the meeting. If your shares are registered in your name, you are encouraged to vote by proxy even if you plan to attend the special meeting in person.
Voting instructions are included on your proxy card. All shares represented by properly executed proxies received in time for the special meeting will be voted at the special meeting in accordance with the instructions of the stockholder. Properly executed proxies that do not contain voting instructions will be voted “FOR” adoption of the merger agreement and “FOR” the proposal to adjourn the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies.
If your shares are held in “street name” through a broker or bank, you may vote through your broker or bank by completing and returning the voting form provided by your broker or bank, or by the Internet or telephone through your broker or bank if such a service is provided. To vote via the Internet or telephone through your broker or bank, you should follow the instructions on the voting form provided by your broker or bank. If you do not return your bank’s or broker’s voting form, do not vote via the Internet or telephone through your broker or bank, if possible, or do not attend the special meeting and vote in person with a proxy from your broker or bank, it will have the same effect as if you voted “AGAINST” adoption of the merger agreement.
Participants in the Wrigley Savings Plan who have shares of our Common Stock and/or Class B Common Stock allocated to their account under the Wrigley Savings Plan are entitled to provide voting instructions with respect to those shares that are allocated to their account. The trustee of the Wrigley Savings Plan will vote the shares of our Common Stock and/or Class B Common Stock allocated to a participant’s account in accordance with the participant’s instructions that are timely received.
If you are a participant and you choose to provide voting instructions by mail, you may provide such instructions simply by completing, signing, dating and returning your enclosed proxy card. Participants also may provide voting instructions either via the Internet or telephonically. If you are a participant and you choose to provide voting instructions via the Internet or telephonically, you should follow the procedures and instructions on the enclosed proxy. The deadline for providing voting instructions to the trustee via the Internet or telephonically is 1:00 am on , 2008.
Any allocated shares of our Common Stock and/or Class B Common Stock held in the Wrigley Savings Plan for which participant instructions are not timely received by the trustee will be voted by the trustee in the same proportion as it votes the shares for which voting instructions have been timely received.
15
Any proxy you give pursuant to this solicitation may be revoked by you at any time before it is voted. Proxies may be revoked by one of three ways.
| • | First, you can deliver a written notice bearing a date later than the proxy you previously delivered stating that you would like to revoke your proxy. |
| • | Second, you can complete, execute and deliver a new, later-dated proxy card for the same shares. If you submitted the proxy you are seeking to revoke via the Internet or telephone, you may submit this later-dated new proxy using the same method of transmission (Internet or telephone) as the proxy being revoked, provided the new proxy is received by 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on , 2008. |
| • | Third, you can attend the meeting and vote in person. Your attendance at the special meeting alone will not revoke your proxy. |
Any written notice of revocation or subsequent proxy should be delivered to Computershare Trust Company, N.A., our transfer agent, or hand-delivered to our Secretary at or before the taking of the vote at the special meeting.
If you have instructed a broker or bank to vote your shares, you must follow directions received from your broker or bank to change those instructions.
Board of Directors Recommendation
Our board of directors has approved the merger agreement and determined that the merger agreement and the merger are advisable and in the best interests of Wrigley and its stockholders. Our board of directors unanimously recommends that stockholders vote “FOR” the proposal to adopt the merger agreement and also recommends that stockholders vote “FOR” the proposal to adjourn the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies if there are not sufficient votes in favor of adopting the merger agreement at the time of the special meeting.
The expense of soliciting proxies in the enclosed form will be borne by Wrigley. We have retained Innisfree M&A Incorporated, a proxy solicitation firm, to solicit proxies in connection with the special meeting at a cost of approximately $100,000 plus expenses. In addition, we may reimburse brokers, banks and other custodians, nominees and fiduciaries representing beneficial owners of shares for their expenses in forwarding soliciting materials to such beneficial owners. Proxies may also be solicited by certain of our directors, officers and employees, personally or by telephone, facsimile or other means of communication. No additional compensation will be paid for such services.
Householding of Special Meeting Materials
Some banks, brokers and other nominee record holders may be participating in the practice of “householding” proxy statements. This means that only one copy of our proxy statement may have been sent to multiple stockholders in each household. We will promptly deliver a separate copy of the proxy statement to any stockholder upon written or oral request to Stockholder Relations, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, Wrigley Building, 410 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611, Telephone: (800) 874-0474. Stockholders sharing an address who wish to receive a single set of reports or proxy statements may do so by contacting their banks or brokers, if they are beneficial holders, or by contacting Wrigley at the address set forth above, if they are record holders.
A list of our stockholders entitled to vote at the special meeting will be available for examination by any Wrigley stockholder at the special meeting. For ten days prior to the special meeting, this stockholder list will be available for inspection during ordinary business hours at our principal place of business located at the Wrigley Building, 410 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611.
16
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company is a recognized leader in confections with a wide range of product offerings including gum, mints, hard and chewy candies, lollipops and chocolate. The Company had global sales of $5.4 billion in 2007 and distributes its world-famous brands in more than 180 countries. Three of these brands – Wrigley’s Spearmint®, Juicy Fruit® and Altoids® – have heritages stretching back more than a century. Other well-loved brands include Doublemint®, Life Savers®, Big Red®, Boomer®, Pim Pom®, Winterfresh®, Extra®, Freedent®, Hubba Bubba®, Orbit®, Excel®, Creme Savers®, Eclipse®, Airwaves®, Solano®, Sugus®, P.K.®, Cool Air® and 5™.
We are incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware. Our principal executive offices are located at the Wrigley Building, 410 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611. Our telephone number is (312) 644-2121. Our corporate website is located at www.wrigley.com. Additional information regarding Wrigley is contained in our filings with the SEC. See “Where You Can Find More Information” beginning on page 84.
Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated is a private family company, the control of all the stock of which rests with the family of Forrest E. Mars, Sr. Mars produces some of the world’s leading confectionery, food and petcare products and has growing drinks and health & nutrition businesses. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Mars operates in more than 66 countries and employs more than 48,000 associates worldwide. Mars’ global sales were $22 billion in 2007. Founded in 1911, Mars manufactures and markets a variety of products under many of the world’s most recognizable trademarks, including DOVE®, MILKY WAY®, M&M’S®, SNICKERS®, MARS®, UNCLE BEN’S® Rice, ROYAL CANIN®, PEDIGREE® and WHISKAS®.
Mars’ principal executive offices are located at 6885 Elm Street, McLean, Virginia 22101 and its telephone number is (703) 821-4900.
New Uno Holdings Corporation
New Uno Holdings Corporation was formed by Mars solely for the purpose of entering into the merger agreement and completing the merger and the other transactions contemplated by the merger agreement. Holdings’ principal executive offices are located at c/o Mars, Incorporated, 6855 Elm Street, McLean, Virginia 22101. Holdings’ telephone number is (703) 821-4900. Holdings has not conducted any business operations other than in connection with the transactions contemplated by the merger agreement.
New Uno Acquisition Corporation
New Uno Acquisition Corporation was formed by Holdings solely for the purpose of entering into the merger agreement and completing the merger and the other transactions contemplated by the merger agreement. Merger Sub’s principal executive offices are located at c/o Mars, Incorporated, 6855 Elm Street, McLean, Virginia 22101. Merger Sub’s telephone number is (703) 821-4900. Merger Sub has not conducted any business operations other than in connection with the transactions contemplated by the merger agreement. Upon consummation of the merger, Merger Sub will cease to exist and Wrigley will continue as the surviving corporation.
17
During 2006, Goldman Sachs arranged for an introductory meeting between the Company and Mars. The Company and Mars entered into a confidentiality agreement and discussed various potential business arrangements, none of which involved a change of control. Such arrangements included potential joint ventures outside the United States. None of these discussions resulted in any formal arrangements being established.
During an August 2007 meeting held pursuant to its customary corporate governance practices, the board of directors, in consultation with the Company’s senior management, reviewed the five-year strategic business plan prepared by the Company’s management and, at its January 2008 meeting, the board of directors reviewed a presentation from the Company’s senior management concerning the opportunities and risks in executing the five-year strategic business plan.
The Company’s senior management from time to time in the ordinary course has considered and evaluated potential strategic opportunities, both internally and in informal discussions with representatives of various investment banking firms, including Goldman Sachs. Similarly, Mars’ senior management from time to time in the ordinary course has considered and evaluated potential strategic opportunities, both internally and in informal discussions with various investment banking firms, including J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Goldman Sachs. In connection with these client service activities, representatives of Mars had informal discussions with representatives of Goldman Sachs about potential equity investments in or negotiated transactions involving a number of companies. As these discussions evolved, at Mars’ request, Goldman Sachs, based solely on publicly available information and using illustrative ranges of transaction premiums specified by Mars, reviewed with Mars preliminary analyses of hypothetical transactions involving Wrigley, including possible financing structures and sources. Subsequently, at Mars’ request, a representative of Goldman Sachs introduced representatives of Mars to a representative of Berkshire Hathaway, at which meeting Mars’ representatives discussed possible financing for a potential transaction with Wrigley.
On April 1, 2008, William Wrigley, Jr., our Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board, was contacted by Paul S. Michaels, Global President of Mars, and Olivier C. Goudet, Chief Financial Officer of Mars, to request a meeting to discuss Mars’ interest in a possible transaction with the Company.
From April 1 to April 3, 2008, Mr. Wrigley, Jr. contacted each of the members of the Company’s board of directors to inform them of the April 1 contact. Mr. Wrigley, Jr. also contacted a representative of Goldman Sachs to inform them of the April 1 contact.
On April 11, 2008, Mr. Wrigley, Jr. met with Mr. Michaels and Mr. Goudet. Messrs. Michaels and Goudet orally outlined a proposal to acquire the Company in a merger transaction at $76 per share. They emphasized the similar cultures existing in the two companies and Mars’ practice of maintaining the stand-alone operation of the companies after completing an acquisition. They indicated that Mars intended that the Company’s headquarters would remain in Chicago and to operate the Company as a separate business unit with the existing leadership team intact and Mr. Wrigley, Jr. serving as Executive Chairman of the Company following the merger. They also described a plan to contribute the Skittles® and Starburst® product lines to the Company following the merger to be operated with the Company’s other “sugar” products. Messrs. Michaels and Goudet also said that this was a friendly proposal to be discussed on an exclusive basis and that Mars would withdraw its proposal if the board of directors of the Company was not interested in pursuing the combination or if the Company wanted to conduct any type of auction process. Messrs. Michaels and Goudet also informed Mr. Wrigley, Jr. that Mars intended to engage J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. as its financial advisor if a transaction were to be pursued. Mr. Wrigley, Jr. informed Messrs. Michaels and Goudet that Wrigley intended to engage Goldman Sachs as its financial advisor if a transaction were to be pursued. Each of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Goldman Sachs had historically provided investment banking services to both Mars and Wrigley.
18
On April 12, 2008, the Company’s board of directors met to discuss the proposal from Mars. Mr. Wrigley, Jr. described in detail the substance of his meeting and the proposal that was described to him by the executives of Mars. The board meeting was attended by a representative of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (“Skadden, Arps”), who advised the board of directors in this context, and a representative of Goldman Sachs, who discussed Mars and its recent acquisition history, and reviewed certain financial aspects of the proposal. The Company’s board of directors authorized the representative of Goldman Sachs to engage in further discussions with Mars, to indicate to Mars that the current offer price of $76 per share was inadequate, and also to better understand the financing structure alternatives for the transaction.
Between April 12 and April 16, 2008, representatives of Goldman Sachs had numerous discussions with the representatives of Mars to learn more about financing structure alternatives for the transaction, the areas and depth of diligence required by Mars given the Company’s sensitivity with respect to confidentiality and the offer price. In addition, with the consent of the Company, between April 12 and April 16, a representative of Goldman Sachs had numerous discussions with a representative of Berkshire Hathaway to discuss the possibility of an acceptable financing commitment from Berkshire Hathaway. Prior to a meeting of the Company’s board of directors on April 17, 2008, Mars indicated to representatives of Goldman Sachs that it was prepared to raise its offer price to $77 per share.
The Company’s board of directors met on April 17, 2008 to discuss further the proposal from Mars. A representative from Goldman Sachs reported upon the revised offer from Mars, the proposed financing structure for the transaction, the status of the financing discussions with Berkshire Hathaway and the limited due diligence being requested by Mars. The board of directors discussed the U.S. and foreign antitrust issues presented by the transaction, the timeline for the antitrust process and possible strategies for obtaining any required antitrust approvals expeditiously. Representatives from Goldman Sachs reviewed the financial aspects of the Mars proposal. Reuben Gamoran, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, reviewed the Company’s current five-year strategic business plan and described the revisions, made in light of the performance of the Company and exchange rates in the first quarter of 2008, to the five-year strategic business plan previously reviewed with the board of directors at its August 2007 meeting. The board of directors was also advised that Mars had requested that Goldman Sachs or its affiliate provide financing to Merger Sub in connection with the transaction and act on behalf of Holdings and Merger Sub as placement agent in connection with the equity and debt financing to be provided by Berkshire Hathaway in connection with the transaction. The board of directors discussed the potential conflicts of interest (or the perception thereof) that could be deemed to arise as a result of Goldman Sachs acting as a lender and placement agent in connection with the transaction, and the fees to be received by Goldman Sachs or its affiliates in connection therewith. The board of directors observed that, given Goldman Sachs’ familiarity with the Company and Berkshire Hathaway and the mutual desire for speed and confidentiality in connection with the transaction, Goldman Sachs and its affiliate were uniquely positioned to assist in the financing of the transaction as lender and placement agent. Following a discussion by the board of directors relating to the risks and benefits of Goldman Sachs or its affiliate assisting in the financing for the transaction, the board of directors requested that Goldman Sachs and its affiliate assist in the financing of the transaction as lender and placement agent and approved Goldman Sachs and its affiliate acting in such capacities. In light of the foregoing, the board then determined to engage William Blair, to act as its independent financial advisor in connection with the transaction and to provide a separate review of the fairness, from a financial point of view, to the Company’s stockholders of the consideration paid in any transaction. Following an executive session of the independent members of the board of directors, the board requested that Goldman Sachs respond to the Mars proposal and indicate that, in the board’s view, the price was still inadequate.
Following the board meeting, a representative of Goldman Sachs contacted Mars and engaged in further negotiations regarding their proposal. As a result of these discussions, Mars increased its offer price to $79.50 per share, plus or minus $0.50 per share, depending on the results of the diligence process.
19
On April 17, 2008, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, LLP (“Simpson Thacher”), counsel to Mars, distributed a proposed draft merger agreement to Skadden, Arps and Skadden, Arps delivered a draft confidentiality agreement to Simpson Thacher. The draft merger agreement provided that an acquisition vehicle formed by Mars, rather than Mars itself, would be a party to the merger agreement. The draft merger agreement did not provide for the remedy of specific performance against the acquisition vehicle but did provide for the payment of a termination fee payable by the acquisition vehicle (the payment of which would be guaranteed by Mars pursuant to a separate limited guarantee) in the event of a breach of the merger agreement by the acquisition vehicle that resulted in the transaction not closing, including as a result of the failure to receive financing. The draft merger agreement also contemplated, among other things, a voting agreement to be executed by Mr. Wrigley, Jr. with respect to the shares of the Company’s Common Stock and Class B Common Stock that he owned or over which he had the power to direct the vote.
On April 18, 2008, the Company and Mars entered into a confidentiality agreement to facilitate the exchange of confidential information.
On April 19 and 20, 2008, management and the legal and financial advisors of Mars met with members of senior management of the Company and its legal and financial advisors to conduct due diligence with respect to the Company.
On April 20, 2008, Skadden, Arps sent comments to the initial draft of the merger agreement to Simpson, Thacher.
During the week of April 21, 2008, Mars continued to conduct due diligence with respect to the Company.
On April 21, 2008, Skadden, Arps and Simpson Thacher met to negotiate the terms of the merger agreement.
On April 22, 2008, Mr. Wrigley, Jr. met with a representative of Berkshire Hathaway to discuss the transaction.
On April 22, 2008, Simpson Thacher sent a revised draft merger agreement to Skadden, Arps. A draft of the voting agreement was provided to the counsel to Mr. Wrigley, Jr. (which counsel was different from the Company’s counsel). The draft voting agreement contained a covenant to add the Wrigley Private Trust Company as a party to the voting agreement after announcement of the transaction.
On April 23, 2008, the Company’s board of directors met to further discuss the Mars proposal. Representatives of Goldman Sachs updated the board members on the status of the negotiations between the parties and the related financing. The board of directors discussed the key terms and conditions of the latest draft of the merger agreement. In particular, the board discussed the negotiations which had occurred involving the termination provisions and the remedies set forth in the latest draft merger agreement. Goldman Sachs reviewed the financial aspects of the then current Mars proposal. William Blair, meeting separately with the board, reviewed the structure of the transaction and described the work it was conducting to enable it to opine on the fairness, from a financial point of view, of the consideration to be paid to holders of the Company’s Common Stock and Class B Common Stock in the transaction. The board met in executive session, both with and without Mr. Wrigley, Jr. and William D. Perez, our President and Chief Executive Officer, to discuss the terms and structure of the proposed transaction, the termination provisions and the related termination fees, the conditions to the transaction, the likelihood of the transaction closing and the impact of the transaction announcement on the Company.
On April 23, 2008, and continuing through April 28, 2008, the parties and their respective legal advisors conducted further negotiations of the terms and conditions of the merger agreement. These negotiations focused on the covenants and closing conditions to be included in the merger agreement, as well as the limitations to be included in the merger agreement on the Company’s ability to contact or engage in discussions with other potential acquirers. The negotiations also addressed the circumstances under which the parties could terminate the merger agreement, the circumstances
20
under which a termination fee would be payable by the parties to the merger agreement, the amounts of such termination fees, the other remedies available to the parties upon breach of the merger agreement and any limitations thereon. During these negotiations, Mars indicated that it was critical to Mars to limit the Company’s recourse against Mars in the event of a breach of the merger agreement by Holdings or Merger Sub or a termination of the merger agreement and that Mars was not prepared to proceed with the transaction if the Company’s recourse against Mars was not limited.
On April 23, 2008, Mr. Wrigley, Jr. met with John Mars and Forrest Mars, Jr., owners of Mars, to discuss the transaction and the cultures of each company.
On April 24, 2008, the board of directors met to review the status of negotiations with Mars. Representatives of Goldman Sachs reported on the status of the financing negotiations, including that an understanding had been reached with Berkshire Hathaway related to the terms of its financing commitment. The board of directors discussed the negotiations regarding termination events, related termination fees and remedies.
On April 25, 2008, Mars received an executed commitment letter from Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., and a copy was forwarded to Skadden, Arps for review.
On April 25, 2008, the board of directors met to consider the status of the Mars proposal. A representative of Goldman Sachs described the status of the financing negotiations between Mars and its financing sources. The representative of Goldman Sachs also indicated that Mars was not willing to complete negotiations on price, the termination provisions, related termination fees and remedies until its financing negotiations were completed. A copy of the draft merger agreement and draft voting agreement were provided to each member of the board of directors. The board of directors discussed the terms and conditions of the latest draft merger agreement. Mr. Wrigley, Jr. recessed the meeting to speak to Mars, together with the Company’s financial advisors, regarding the status of negotiations and the timing for a response from Mars on the remaining issues. When the meeting reconvened, Goldman Sachs reviewed its financial analysis of the proposed transaction. The board of directors discussed work being done, in conjunction with the counsel for Mars, regarding the regulatory filings that would be required in conjunction with the proposed transaction, the likely timing of such filings and the possible timing of and process to achieve the necessary approvals to close the transaction. William Blair reviewed its financial analysis of the proposed transaction. The meeting was again recessed to accept a telephone call from a representative of Mars. When the meeting reconvened, Mr. Wrigley, Jr. reported that Mars had made the following proposal: (i) a fee of $500 million payable by the Company to Mars if the Company accepted a higher offer; (ii) a fee of between $500 million and $1 billion payable to the Company by Mars upon failure of the transaction to close under certain circumstances due to a breach of Holdings’ or Merger Sub’s obligations under the merger agreement; (iii) a fee of $1 billion payable to the Company by Mars upon failure of the transaction to close under certain circumstances due to the failure to receive certain antitrust approvals; (iv) the offer price remained at $79.50 with the possibility of further increase following the completion of Mars’ financing negotiations; (v) Mars would become a party to the merger agreement for the limited purpose of guaranteeing the payment of any reverse termination fee and other expense reimbursement and indemnity provisions relating to the financing; (vi) the merger agreement would contain an undertaking for Mars to contribute its Starburst® and Skittles® brands to the Company after closing; and (vii) Mars would not require a voting agreement from Mr. Wrigley, Jr. as a condition to the transaction. After extensive discussion and deliberation on the proposed transaction, the board of directors determined that negotiations with Mars should continue.
On April 26, 2008, Skadden, Arps and Simpson Thacher continued to negotiate the terms of the merger agreement.
On April 27, 2008, a copy of the draft commitment letter of Goldman Sachs Credit Partners L.P. was forwarded to Skadden, Arps for review.
On April 27, 2008, the board of directors met to receive a report from management and the Company’s legal and financial advisors on the proposed transaction and the resolution of the issues discussed at its meeting on April 25, 2008. Mr. Wrigley reported that Mars had increased its offer to
21
$80.00 per share and had proposed an alternative termination fee structure that included a $690 million fee payable to Mars if the Company accepted a higher offer and a $690 million fee payable to the Company if the merger did not close due to the failure to receive the proceeds of the financing under circumstances in which Holdings and Merger Sub were not otherwise in willful and material breach of the merger agreement, but that Mars was willing to pay the Company a reverse termination fee of $1 billion if the merger did not close due to the failure to receive the regulatory approvals or Mars willfully and materially breached the merger agreement. A copy of the revised draft merger agreement was provided to each member of the board of directors. The board of directors discussed the changes reflected in the current draft merger agreement from the draft discussed at the April 25 board meeting and the provisions of the Berkshire Hathaway and Goldman Sachs Credit Partners L.P. financing commitments. Mr. Wrigley, Jr. then recessed the meeting to take a phone call from Mars with the Company’s financial and legal advisors. Upon reconvening, Mr. Wrigley, Jr. reported that Mars had amended its proposal to provide for a single reverse termination fee of $1 billion payable to the Company if Holdings failed to consummate the merger on or prior to the last day of the marketing period and all conditions were satisfied or in certain other circumstances in which the merger agreement was terminated due to a breach by Holdings or Merger Sub. The board of directors then discussed the provisions of the JPMorgan commitment letter which had been forwarded to Skadden, Arps during the meeting. Goldman Sachs provided its oral opinion to the board of directors, later confirmed in writing, that, based upon and subject to the factors and assumptions set forth therein, the $80.00 per share in cash to be received by the holders (other than Holdings or its affiliates) of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, taken in the aggregate, pursuant to the merger agreement was fair from a financial point of view to such holders. William Blair delivered its oral opinion, later confirmed by its written opinion, to the effect that, based upon and subject to the assumptions, procedures, factors, limitations and qualifications set forth in the opinion, the $80.00 per share in cash to be received by the holders of the outstanding shares of Wrigley Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, collectively, pursuant to the merger agreement was fair, from a financial point of view, to those holders (other than Holdings or its affiliates). During the course of the presentations by Goldman Sachs and William Blair, representatives of Goldman Sachs and William Blair responded to questions from members of the Company’s board of directors confirming or clarifying their understanding of the analyses performed and opinions rendered by Goldman Sachs and William Blair. After further discussion, the Company’s board of directors unanimously determined that the merger agreement and the merger were advisable and in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders, approved the merger agreement and authorized its execution and resolved to recommend that the Company’s stockholders adopt the merger agreement.
On April 28, 2008, the Company received executed copies of the signed commitments of JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs Credit Partners L.P. to provide the financing for the proposed transaction and the parties executed the merger agreement. The Company and Mars publicly announced the transaction through the issuance by each party of a press release prior to the opening of The New York Stock Exchange on April 28, 2008.
Recommendation of Wrigley’s Board of Directors and Reasons for the Merger
Our board of directors unanimously recommends that you vote “FOR” adoption of the merger agreement and “FOR” adjournment of the special meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies if there are not sufficient votes in favor of adopting the merger agreement at the time of the special meeting.
At a special meeting of our board of directors on April 27, 2008, our board of directors determined that the merger agreement and the merger are advisable and in the best interests of Wrigley’s stockholders and approved the merger agreement. In the course of reaching its decision over several board meetings, our board of directors consulted with our senior management, financial advisors and legal counsel, reviewed a significant amount of information and considered a number of factors, including, among others, the following:
| • | the $80.00 per share in cash to be paid as merger consideration in relation to the current market price of Wrigley Common Stock and also in relation to the current value of Wrigley and our |
22
| board of directors’ view as to the potential future value of Wrigley as an independent entity and, specifically, the fact that the $80.00 per share in cash to be paid as merger consideration represents (i) a 34% premium over the weighted average closing price of our Common Stock during the three month period before the public announcement of the merger, (ii) a 28% premium over the closing price of our Common Stock on April 25, 2008, the last full trading day before the public announcement of the merger and (iii) a 17% premium to the all-time high price of our Common Stock before the public announcement of the merger on April 28, 2008; |
| • | the business, competitive position, strategy and prospects of Wrigley, and current industry, economic and market conditions; |
| • | the recent evaluation by the board of directors of the Company’s strategic business plan, as well as the execution risks related to achieving that plan, compared to the risks and benefits of the merger; |
| • | the possible strategic alternatives to the merger, including remaining an independent public company, the range of potential benefits to our stockholders of the possible alternatives and the timing and likelihood of accomplishing the goals of such alternatives; |
| • | the board of directors’ belief that no other alternative reasonably available to the Company and its stockholders would provide greater value and certainty to stockholders within the foreseeable future; |
| • | the value of the consideration to be received by our stockholders and the fact that the consideration would be paid in cash, which provides certainty and immediate value to our stockholders; |
| • | the likelihood that, in our board of directors’ view, conducting an auction process before approving the merger would result in the withdrawal of Mars’ proposal and would be detrimental to Wrigley by posing significant risks to our existing operations, including risks related to employee retention; |
| • | the timing of the merger and the risk that, if we did not accept Mars’ offer, we would not have another opportunity to do so; |
| • | the fact that the price finally agreed to was the result of multiple increases by Mars; |
| • | the financial analysis presented by Goldman Sachs, as well as the oral opinion of Goldman Sachs, later confirmed in writing, that, based upon and subject to the factors and assumptions set forth in the opinion, the $80.00 per share in cash to be received by the holders (other than Holdings or its affiliates) of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, taken in the aggregate, pursuant to the merger agreement was fair from a financial point of view to such holders, as described under “The Merger—Opinion of Goldman Sachs” (the full text of Goldman Sachs’ written opinion is attached as Annex B to this proxy statement); |
| • | the opinion of William Blair that, based upon and subject to the assumptions, procedures, factors, limitations and qualifications set forth in the opinion, the $80.00 per share in cash to be received by the holders of outstanding Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, collectively, pursuant to the merger agreement was fair, from a financial point of view, to those holders (other than Holdings or its affiliates) as described under “The Merger—Opinion of William Blair” (the full text of William Blair’s written opinion is attached as Annex C to this proxy statement), as well as the presentation by William Blair in connection with its opinion; |
| • | the terms of the merger agreement, including: the limited number and nature of the conditions to complete the merger; our right to terminate the merger agreement under certain circumstances in order to accept a superior proposal (subject to, among other things, paying a $690 million termination fee); and the obligation of Mars to pay us a $1 billion termination fee if the merger agreement is terminated under certain circumstances; |
23
| • | the likelihood that the proposed acquisition would be completed, in light of the financial capabilities and reputation of Mars and the financing commitments; |
| • |
the positive impact on the financing of Mars’ plan to combine its operations and businesses associated with the manufacture, marketing and distribution of the Skittles® and Starburst® product lines with and into the surviving corporation; |
| • | the terms of the financing arrangements entered into by Mars, Holdings and Merger Sub in connection with the merger, including the absence of “market outs,” and the fact that such financing was committed prior to the execution of the merger agreement; and |
| • | stockholders who do not vote in favor of adoption of the merger agreement will have the right to demand appraisal of the fair value of their shares under Delaware law. |
Our board of directors also considered potentially negative factors in its deliberations concerning the merger including, among others, the following:
| • | the fact that we will no longer exist as an independent public company and our stockholders will forgo any future increase in our value that might result from our earnings or possible growth as an independent company; |
| • | the fact that we are not permitted to seek the remedy of specific performance and the Company’s sole remedy in connection with a breach of the merger agreement by Holdings or Merger Sub, even a breach that is deliberate or willful, is limited to a termination fee of $1 billion; |
| • | the fact that under and subject to the terms of the merger agreement, we cannot solicit a third party acquisition proposal, although we can furnish information to and negotiate with a third party in response to an unsolicited acquisition proposal that our board of directors reasonably determines is or will lead to a superior proposal; |
| • | the risk that we might not receive necessary regulatory approvals and clearances; |
| • | the fact that under the terms of the merger agreement none of Holdings, Merger Sub or their affiliates are required to sell, license, divest, hold separate or otherwise dispose of, or conduct, restrict, operate, invest or otherwise change any assets, business or portion of the business of, or accept any restriction, requirement or limitation on the operation of the business or any portion of the business of, the Company, the surviving corporation, Holdings, Merger Sub or any of their respective affiliates in order to obtain any necessary regulatory approvals and clearances; |
| • | the restrictions on the conduct of our business prior to the consummation of the merger, which, subject to the limitations specified in the merger agreement, may delay or prevent the Company from taking certain actions during the time that the merger agreement remains in effect; |
| • | the risks and costs to the Company if the merger does not close, including the diversion of management and employee attention, potential employee attrition and the potential impact on the Company’s businesses; and |
| • | the interests that our directors and executive officers may have with respect to the merger, in addition to their interests as stockholders of Wrigley generally, as described in “The Merger—Interests of Wrigley’s Directors and Executive Officers in the Merger.” |
In view of the variety of factors considered in connection with its evaluation of the merger, our board of directors did not find it practicable to, and did not, quantify or otherwise assign relative weights to the specific factors considered in reaching its determination and recommendation. In addition, individual directors may have given differing weights to different factors.
24
The total amount of funds necessary to complete the merger and the related transactions is anticipated to be approximately $23 billion, including the assumption, refinancing, repayment or redemption of certain of our outstanding indebtedness and the payment of customary fees and expenses in connection with the proposed merger and financing arrangements. These amounts are expected to be funded by new credit facilities, private offerings of debt securities and equity financing. Both the debt and equity financing commitments are subject to various conditions.
Equity Financing
Holdings has received an equity commitment letter from Mars for an aggregate investment of $11.6 billion. Pursuant to the equity commitment letter, and subject to the conditions and terms therein, Mars has agreed to purchase, or cause the purchase of, equity securities of Holdings for an aggregate purchase price of $11.6 billion, solely for the purpose of allowing Holdings and/or Merger Sub to fund a portion of the merger consideration and related expenses, subject to reduction if the entire amount of such equity commitment is not needed in order to consummate the merger. Mars is permitted to assign all or a portion of its obligations under the equity commitment letter, provided that Mars remains obligated to perform its obligations under the equity commitment letter to the extent not performed by the assignee. The obligation of Mars to fund its commitment under the equity commitment letter is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the conditions to the obligations of Holdings and Merger Sub to effect the closing under the merger agreement, the substantially concurrent funding of the other equity and debt financings described below and the substantially concurrent consummation of the merger.
In addition, Berkshire Hathaway has provided a commitment letter, dated April 25, 2008, pursuant to which Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to invest $2.1 billion in equity securities of the surviving corporation in the merger or one or more acquisition parent companies of the surviving corporation in the merger.
Debt Financing
In connection with the execution and delivery of the merger agreement, Merger Sub received a debt commitment letter, dated April 28, 2008, from Goldman Sachs Credit Partners L.P. to provide up to $5.7 billion in aggregate debt financing, consisting of (i) up to $1.0 billion under a senior secured Tranche A term loan facility, (ii) up to $4.45 billion under a senior secured Tranche B term loan facility and (iii) up to $250 million under a senior secured revolving credit facility. The debt financing from Goldman Sachs Credit Partners L.P. will be used to finance, in part, the payment of the merger consideration, the repayment or refinancing of certain of our debt outstanding on the closing date of the merger and the payment of fees and expenses in connection with the merger, refinancing, financing and related transactions and, after the closing date of the merger, to provide for ongoing working capital and general corporate purposes.
The facilities contemplated by the debt financing commitments from Goldman Sachs Credit Partners L.P. are subject to customary closing conditions, including, among others:
| • | the absence of any material adverse effect on the Company (as defined in the merger agreement); |
| • | the consummation of the merger in accordance with the merger agreement (without giving effect to any amendments or waivers to the merger agreement to the extent material and adverse to the lenders that have not been approved by Goldman Sachs Credit Partners L.P.); |
| • | the absence of any material fraud or bona fide allegation of material fraud or announcement of a material product recall which, in either case, (a) could reasonably be expected to materially impair the syndication of any of the debt facilities or have a material adverse effect on the Company (as defined in the merger agreement) and (b) has not been cured prior to the earlier of (i) 60 days following the event giving rise to such fraud, allegation of fraud or product recall and (ii) the closing; |
25
| • | Goldman Sachs Credit Partners L.P. being afforded a 30-day marketing period; |
| • | the concurrent funding of the equity contributions by Mars and Berkshire Hathaway described above and the subordinated debt financing from Berkshire Hathaway described below; |
| • | the repayment of certain existing indebtedness of the Company; |
| • | the execution of definitive credit documentation consistent with the term sheets for the debt facilities; |
| • | the accuracy of certain representations; |
| • | the receipt of specified historical and pro forma financial statements of the Company; |
| • | the absence of any material litigation relating to the facilities, which could reasonably be expected to materially impair the syndication of the facilities (other than any litigation resulting from the announcement or performance of the merger agreement and the other transactions contemplated by the merger agreement); |
| • | the substantially concurrent contribution by Mars to Holdings of all of its assets comprising its sugar business segments and product lines; |
| • | the receipt of customary closing documents and deliverables; and |
| • | the execution of certain guarantees and the creation of security interests. |
In addition, Mars received a debt commitment letter, dated April 28, 2008, from JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., which debt commitment letter was amended, restated and replaced in its entirety on substantially the same terms by a debt commitment letter, dated May 16, 2008 from JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., Bank of America, N.A., Banc of America Private Placement Funding Group, LLC, Banc of America Securities LLC, BNP Paribas, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Citibank, N.A., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank AG New York Branch, Deutsche Bank AG Cayman Islands Branch, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Lloyds TSB Bank plc, The Royal Bank of Scotland plc and RBS Securities Corporation d/b/a RBS Greenwich Capital (collectively, the “Mars Senior Lenders”) to provide approximately $12.0 billion in aggregate debt financing, consisting of (i) a $1.5 billion senior unsecured revolving credit facility, (ii) an $8.5 billion senior unsecured term loan facility and (iii) a $2.0 billion senior unsecured bridge facility. The debt financing from the Mars Senior Lenders will be used to finance the equity contribution from Mars described above, the repayment or refinancing of certain debt of Mars outstanding on the closing date of the merger, and the payment of fees and expenses in connection with the merger, refinancing, financing and related transactions and, after the consummation of the merger, will be used for Mars’ general corporate purposes, including to fund Mars’ working capital.
The funding of the facilities contemplated by the debt financing commitment from the Mars Senior Lenders is subject to customary closing conditions, including, among others:
| • | the absence of any material adverse effect on the Company (as defined in the merger agreement); |
| • | the consummation of the merger in accordance with the merger agreement (without giving effect to any amendments or waivers thereto to the extent adverse to the lenders in any material respect which have not been approved by JPMorgan Securities Inc. in its capacity as lead arranger after consultation with the Mars Senior Lenders); |
| • | the concurrent funding of the equity contribution by Berkshire Hathaway; |
| • | the repayment of certain existing indebtedness of the Company and Mars; |
| • | the execution of definitive credit documentation consistent with the term sheets for the debt facilities; |
| • | the receipt of specified historical and pro forma financial statements of the Company and Mars; |
26
| • | the absence of certain defaults or events of defaults; |
| • | the accuracy of certain representations; |
| • | pro forma compliance with a net debt to net worth covenant of 1.50 to 1.00; and |
| • | the receipt of customary closing documents and deliverables. |
Berkshire Hathaway also provided a commitment letter, dated April 25, 2008, pursuant to which Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to provide $4.4 billion in subordinated debt financing to the surviving corporation in the merger.
As of the date of this proxy statement, no alternative financing arrangements or alternative financing plans have been made in the event the debt financing described in this proxy statement is not available as anticipated.
Holdings has agreed in the merger agreement to use reasonable best efforts to take, or cause to be taken, all actions and to do, or cause to be done, all things necessary, proper or advisable to consummate the financings on the terms and conditions described in the financing commitment letters described above (or on revised terms no less favorable in any material respect to Holdings (as determined in the reasonable judgment of Holdings), which terms do not contain any provisions which would reasonably be expected to prevent, materially delay or materially impede the consummation of the financings or the transactions contemplated by the merger agreement), including using its reasonable best efforts to:
| • | maintain in effect the financing commitment letters described above; |
| • | satisfy on a timely basis all conditions applicable to Holdings and Merger Sub in obtaining the debt financing contemplated by the commitment letters from JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs Credit Partners L.P. described above that are within their control; |
| • | negotiate definitive agreements with respect to the financings described above on the terms and conditions contained in the financing commitment letters (including any “flex” provisions); and |
| • | consummate the financings described above at or prior to the closing of the merger. |
Goldman Sachs delivered its written opinion to Wrigley’s board of directors that, as of April 28, 2008, based upon and subject to the factors and assumptions set forth therein, the $80.00 per share in cash to be received by the holders (other than Holdings or its affiliates) of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, taken in the aggregate, pursuant to the merger agreement was fair from a financial point of view to such holders. Goldman Sachs did not express any opinion with respect to the allocation of the aggregate consideration among the holders of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock in the transaction.
THE FULL TEXT OF THE WRITTEN OPINION OF GOLDMAN SACHS, DATED APRIL 28, 2008, WHICH SETS FORTH ASSUMPTIONS MADE, PROCEDURES FOLLOWED, MATTERS CONSIDERED AND LIMITATIONS ON THE REVIEW UNDERTAKEN IN CONNECTION WITH THE OPINION, IS ATTACHED HERETO AS ANNEX B. GOLDMAN SACHS PROVIDED ITS OPINION FOR THE INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE OF WRIGLEY’S BOARD OF DIRECTORS IN CONNECTION WITH ITS CONSIDERATION OF THE TRANSACTION. THE GOLDMAN SACHS OPINION IS NOT A RECOMMENDATION AS TO HOW ANY HOLDER OF COMMON STOCK OR CLASS B COMMON STOCK SHOULD VOTE WITH RESPECT TO THE ADOPTION OF THE MERGER AGREEMENT OR ANY OTHER MATTER.
27
In connection with rendering the opinion described above and performing its related financial analyses, Goldman Sachs reviewed, among other things:
| • | the merger agreement; |
| • | annual reports to stockholders and Annual Reports on Form 10-K of Wrigley for the five years ended December 31, 2007; |
| • | certain interim reports to stockholders and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q of Wrigley; |
| • | certain other communications from Wrigley to its stockholders; |
| • | certain publicly available research analyst reports for Wrigley; and |
| • | certain internal financial analyses and forecasts for Wrigley prepared by its management and approved for Goldman Sachs’ use by Wrigley. |
Goldman Sachs also held discussions with members of the senior management of Wrigley regarding their assessment of the past and current business operations, financial condition and future prospects of Wrigley. In addition, Goldman Sachs reviewed the reported price and trading activity for the Common Stock, compared certain financial and stock market information for Wrigley with similar information for certain other companies the securities of which are publicly traded, reviewed the financial terms of certain recent business combinations in the food and confectionery industry specifically and in other industries generally and performed such other studies and analyses, and considered such other factors, as it considered appropriate.
For purposes of rendering the opinion described above, Goldman Sachs relied upon and assumed, without assuming any responsibility for independent verification, the accuracy and completeness of all of the financial, legal, regulatory, tax, accounting and other information provided to, discussed with or reviewed by it. In that regard, Goldman Sachs assumed, with Wrigley’s consent, that the forecasts for Wrigley prepared by its management were reasonably prepared on a basis reflecting the best currently available estimates and judgments of the management of Wrigley. In addition, Goldman Sachs did not make an independent evaluation or appraisal of the assets and liabilities (including any contingent, derivative or off-balance-sheet assets and liabilities) of Wrigley or any of its subsidiaries, nor was any evaluation or appraisal of the assets or liabilities of Wrigley or any of its subsidiaries furnished to Goldman Sachs.
Goldman Sachs’ opinion does not address any legal, regulatory, tax or accounting matters, nor does it address the underlying business decision of Wrigley to engage in the transaction, or the relative merits of the transaction as compared to any strategic alternatives that may be available to Wrigley. Goldman Sachs was not requested to solicit, and did not solicit, interest from other parties with respect to an acquisition of, or other business combination with, Wrigley or any other alternative transaction. Goldman Sachs’ opinion addresses only the fairness from a financial point of view, as of the date of the opinion, of the $80.00 per share in cash to be received by the holders (other than Holdings or its affiliates) of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, taken in the aggregate, pursuant to the merger agreement. Goldman Sachs did not express an opinion with respect to the allocation of the aggregate consideration among the holders of the various types of shares in the transaction. Goldman Sachs’ opinion does not express any view on, and does not address, any other term or aspect of the merger agreement or the transaction, including, without limitation, the fairness of the transaction to, or any consideration received in connection therewith by, the holders of any other class of securities, creditors or other constituencies of Wrigley, Holdings or Merger Sub; nor as to the fairness of the amount or nature of any compensation to be paid or payable to any of the officers, directors or employees of Wrigley, Holdings or Merger Sub, or class of such persons in connection with the transaction, whether relative to the $80.00 per share in cash to be received by the holders of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock pursuant to the merger agreement or otherwise. In addition, Goldman Sachs’ opinion does not express any view on, and does not address, any aspect of any other contractual arrangement Wrigley or any of its affiliates has entered into or may enter into in
28
connection with the transaction. Goldman Sachs’ opinion was necessarily based on economic, monetary, market and other conditions, as in effect on, and the information made available to it as of, the date of the opinion and Goldman Sachs assumed no responsibility for updating, revising or reaffirming its opinion based on circumstances, developments or events occurring after the date of its opinion. Goldman Sachs’ opinion was approved by a fairness committee of Goldman Sachs.
The following is a summary of the material financial analyses delivered by Goldman Sachs to the board of directors of Wrigley in connection with rendering the opinion described above. The following summary, however, does not purport to be a complete description of the financial analyses performed by Goldman Sachs, nor does the order of analyses described represent relative importance or weight given to those analyses by Goldman Sachs. Some of the summaries of the financial analyses include information presented in tabular format. The tables must be read together with the full text of each summary and are alone not a complete description of Goldman Sachs’ financial analyses. Except as otherwise noted, the following quantitative information, to the extent that it is based on market data, is based on market data as it existed on or before April 27, 2008 and is not necessarily indicative of current market conditions.
Historical Stock Trading Analysis. Goldman Sachs reviewed the historical daily closing prices for the Wrigley Common Stock and the historical weekly ratio of closing prices to estimated year-end earnings per share (based upon median estimates from Institutional Brokers’ Estimate System, which we refer to as “IBES”) for the 20-year period ended April 25, 2008. We refer to earnings per share as “EPS” and a ratio of price to future EPS as a “forward P/E multiple”. Goldman Sachs also reviewed the historical monthly IBES estimates of EPS and one-year forward P/E multiples for Wrigley based on such EPS estimates for the 10-year period ended April 25, 2008, as well as IBES’ projected 5-year EPS compound annual growth rates for Wrigley and Wrigley’s historical EPS growth rate during the 10-year period. Goldman Sachs also reviewed IBES’ projected EPS relative to IBES’ one-year forward EPS multiple for Wrigley over this 10-year period. Goldman Sachs further reviewed historical closing prices for the Wrigley Common Stock for the 10-year period ended April 25, 2008, relative to the operating performance of Wrigley through December 31, 2007 and the Company’s estimates for the year ending December 31, 2008 as indicated by EPS growth and the ratio of earnings before interest and taxes to sales, or “EBIT margin”. We refer to earnings before interest and taxes as “EBIT”.
Goldman Sachs reviewed indexed historical weekly closing prices and one-year forward P/E multiples based on IBES EPS estimates for Wrigley compared to The Hershey Company, to the other selected companies described under “—Selected Companies Analysis” below and to the S&P 500 Index for the 10-year period ended April 25, 2008. Goldman also reviewed indexed relative historical weekly one-year forward P/E multiples based on IBES EPS estimates for Wrigley compared to The Hershey Company, for Wrigley compared to Cadbury Schweppes plc and for Wrigley compared to the other selected companies described under “—Selected Companies Analysis” below for the 10-year period ended April 25, 2008, as well as the average relative historical one-year forward P/E multiples based on IBES EPS estimates for Wrigley compared to The Hershey Company, for Wrigley compared to Cadbury Schweppes plc and for Wrigley compared to the other selected companies described under “—Selected Companies Analysis” below, over the ten-year, five-year, three-year and one-year periods ending April 25, 2008, as well as those relative multiples as of April 25, 2008.
Transaction Premium Analysis. Goldman Sachs analyzed the $80.00 per share to be received by holders of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, taken in the aggregate, pursuant to the transaction compared to the market price of the Common Stock as of April 25, 2008, the weighted average market prices of the Common Stock for the three-month, six-month and one-year periods ended April 25, 2008 and the all-time high market price of the Common Stock on October 18, 2007.
29
The following table presents the results of Goldman Sachs’ analysis:
| Implied Premium to: |
Price per Share | Implied Premium of $80.00 per Share Offer Price | ||
| Then-current stock price (4/25/08) |
$62.45 | 28% | ||
| 3-month weighted average |
$59.88 | 34% | ||
| 6-month weighted average |
$59.99 | 33% | ||
| One-year weighted average |
$59.81 | 34% | ||
| All-Time High (10/18/07) |
$68.44 | 17% |
Goldman Sachs analyzed premiums paid in all cash deals since 1998 with an enterprise value (which Goldman Sachs defines as diluted market capitalization plus net debt) of greater than $5 billion, relative to the market price for the target company’s stock four weeks prior to announcement, the 52-week high market price for the target company’s stock prior to announcement and the all-time high market price for the target company’s stock prior to announcement. This analysis indicated that 45.1% of the transactions reviewed reflected premiums of 30% or less to the market price four weeks prior to announcement, 83.8% of the transactions reviewed reflected premiums of 20% or less to the 52-week high market price prior to announcement and 88.5% of the transactions reviewed reflected premiums of 20% or less to the all-time high market price prior to announcement. Goldman Sachs noted that the $80.00 per share to be received by holders of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, taken in the aggregate, pursuant to the transaction represented a premium of 28% to the market price four weeks prior to announcement, a premium of 17% to the 52-week high market price prior to announcement, and a premium of 17% to the all-time high market price prior to announcement.
Transaction Multiples Analysis. Goldman Sachs performed certain analyses based on historical information for Wrigley for the year ended December 31, 2007, the twelve-month period ended March 31, 2008, or “LTM”, and estimates provided by management of Wrigley for 2008 and 2009. Goldman Sachs calculated, with respect to the market price of $62.45 per share on April 25, 2008 and the $80.00 per share to be received by holders of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, taken in the aggregate, pursuant to the transaction:
| • | equity value; |
| • | enterprise value; |
| • | enterprise value as a multiple of 2007 sales, LTM sales and estimated sales for 2008 and 2009; |
| • | enterprise value as a multiple of 2007 EBIT, LTM EBIT and estimated EBIT for 2008 and 2009; |
| • | enterprise value as a multiple of 2007 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or “EBITDA”, LTM EBITDA and estimated EBITDA for 2008 and 2009; and |
| • | forward P/E multiple based on EPS estimates for 2008 and 2009. |
30
The following table presents the results of Goldman Sachs’ analysis (dollar amounts in millions, except for per share data):
| Market Price per Share on April 25, 2008 ($62.45) |
$80.00 per Share Offer Price | |||||
| Equity Value |
$17,257 | $22,313 | ||||
| Enterprise Value |
$18,090 | $23,146 | ||||
| Enterprise Value/Sales |
||||||
| 2007A |
$5,389 |
3.3x | 4.3x | |||
| LTM |
5,587 |
3.2 | 4.1 | |||
| 2008E |
6,039 |
3.0 | 3.8 | |||
| 2009E |
6,613 |
2.7 | 3.5 | |||
| Enterprise Value/EBIT |
||||||
| 2007A |
$ 976 |
18.4x | 23.6x | |||
| LTM |
1,027 |
17.6 | 22.5 | |||
| 2008E |
1,083 |
16.7 | 21.4 | |||
| 2009E |
1,179 |
15.3 | 19.6 | |||
| Enterprise Value/EBITDA |
||||||
| 2007A |
$1,194 |
15.1x | 19.3x | |||
| LTM |
1,254 |
14.4 | 18.5 | |||
| 2008E |
1,325 |
13.7 | 17.5 | |||
| 2009E |
1,443 |
12.5 | 16.0 | |||
| P/E |
||||||
| 2008E |
$ 2.49 |
25.0x | 32.1x | |||
| 2009E |
2.74 |
22.8 | 29.2 | |||
Selected Companies Analysis. Goldman Sachs reviewed and compared certain financial information for Wrigley to corresponding financial information, ratios and public market multiples for the following publicly traded corporations in the food and confectionery industry:
| • | Cadbury Schweppes plc |
| • | Campbell Soup Company |
| • | ConAgra Foods, Inc. |
| • | General Mills, Inc. |
| • | Groupe DANONE |
| • | H.J. Heinz Company |
| • | Kellogg Company |
| • | Kraft Foods Inc. |
| • | Nestlé S.A. |
| • | PepsiCo, Inc. |
| • | Sara Lee Corporation |
31
| • | The Hershey Company |
| • | Unilever N.V. |
Although none of the selected companies is directly comparable to Wrigley, the companies included were chosen because they are publicly traded companies with operations that for purposes of analysis may be considered similar to certain operations of Wrigley.
Goldman Sachs calculated and compared various financial multiples and ratios based on financial data as of April 25, 2008, information it obtained from publicly available financial statements and IBES estimates. The multiples and ratios of Wrigley were calculated using Wrigley’s publicly filed financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2007. With respect to the selected companies and Wrigley, Goldman Sachs calculated:
| • | enterprise value as a multiple of LTM EBITDA; |
| • | enterprise value as a multiple of LTM EBIT; |
| • | forward P/E multiple based on median IBES estimates for 2008 EPS; |
| • | ratio of price to earnings growth, or “PEG”, based on median IBES estimates for 2008 EPS; and |
| • | five-year projected compound annual growth rates in EPS based on median IBES EPS. |
The results of these analyses are summarized as follows:
| Selected Companies |
||||
| Range | Wrigley | |||
| Enterprise value / LTM EBITDA |
6.9x – 16.2x | 15.1x | ||
| Enterprise value / LTM EBIT |
8.1x – 19.5x | 18.5x | ||
| Forward P/E Multiple 2008E |
13.4x – 20.6x | 25.1x | ||
| PEG Ratio |
1.6x – 2.5x | 2.4x | ||
| 5-Year IBES Projected EPS CAGR |
7.0% – 11.0% | 10.3% |
Selected Transactions Analysis. Goldman Sachs analyzed certain information relating to the following selected transactions (listed by acquirer / target) in the food and beverage and household products and personal care industries since 1996:
| • | The Gillette Company / Duracell International, Incorporated (1996) |
| • | Newell Company / Rubbermaid Incorporated (1996) |
| • | Philip Morris Companies / Kraft Inc. (1998) |
| • | Procter & Gamble Co. / Iams Pet Food International N.V. (1999) |
| • | Unilever plc / Bestfoods Incorporated (2000) |
| • | Philip Morris Companies Incorporated / Nabisco Holdings Corporation (2000) |
| • | General Mills Incorporated / Diageo plc, The Pillsbury Company (2001) |
| • | Kellogg Company / Keebler Foods Company (2001) |
| • | PepsiCo, Incorporated / Quaker Oats Company (2001) |
32
| • | Nestlé SA / Ralston Purina Company (2001) |
| • | Procter & Gamble Company / Clairol, Incorporated (2001) |
| • | Masterfoods France / Royal Canin SA (2001) |
| • | Cadbury plc / Pfizer Inc., Adams Confectionary Business (2002) |
| • | Procter & Gamble Company / Wella AG (2003) |
| • | Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company / Kraft Foods Incorporated, Certain Sugar Confectionary Assets (2004) |
| • | Procter & Gamble Company / The Gillette Company (2005) |
| • | Johnson & Johnson / Pfizer Consumer Healthcare (2006) |
| • | Nestlé SA / Gerber Products Company (2007) |
| • | Kraft Foods Incorporated / Groupe DANONE, Biscuits and Cereal Products Business (2007) |
| • | Groupe DANONE / Koninklijke Numico NV (2007) |
| • | Pernod Ricard SA / V&S Vin & Spirit AB (2008) |
| • | Novartis AG / Alcon Incorporated (2008) |
For each of the selected transactions, Goldman Sachs calculated and compared enterprise value as a multiple of LTM sales and enterprise value as a multiple of LTM EBITDA, based on information it obtained from publicly available financial statements. The multiples for Wrigley were calculated and compared based on historical information for Wrigley for the year ended December 31, 2007. While none of the companies that participated in the selected transactions is directly comparable to Wrigley, the companies that participated in the selected transactions are companies with operations that, for the purposes of analysis, may be considered similar to certain of Wrigley’s results, market size and product profile.
The following table presents the results of this analysis:
| Enterprise Value as a Multiple of: |
Selected Transactions | Wrigley Multiples Based on $80.00 Per Share | ||||
| Range | Median | 2007A | ||||
| LTM Sales |
1.2x – 7.4x | 2.7x | 4.3x | |||
| LTM EBITDA |
10.7x –21.2x | 14.5x | 19.3x | |||
| * Note: | EBITDA information not publicly available for Johnson & Johnson / Pfizer Consumer Healthcare and Philip Morris Companies / Kraft Inc. transactions. |
Present Value of Future Share Price Analysis. Goldman Sachs performed an illustrative analysis of the implied present value of the future price per share of Wrigley Common Stock, which is designed to provide an indication of the present value of a theoretical future value of a company’s equity as a function of such company’s estimated future earnings and assumed forward P/E multiples. For this analysis, Goldman Sachs used the EPS estimates included in the forecasts provided by Wrigley’s management. Goldman Sachs first calculated the implied values per share as of April 25, 2008 and for each of the years 2008 to 2012, by applying price to forward P/E multiples of 29.0x (Wrigley’s 10-year average), 25.0x (Wrigley’s current and 20-year average), 18.9x (The Hershey Company’s forward P/E multiple) and 16.6x (the average forward P/E multiple of the other selected companies described under “—Selected Companies Analysis” above) to the EPS estimates for Wrigley, and then analyzed the present value of these future stock prices per share using a discount rate of 8.0%. This analysis resulted in a range of implied present values per share for each of the years from 2008 through 2012 of $71.00 to $81.00, using the 29.0x multiple, $61.00 to $71.00, using the 25.0x multiple, $47.00 to $55.00, using the 18.9x multiple, and $41.00 to $49.00, using the 16.6x multiple. Goldman Sachs then
33
performed a sensitivity analysis using an EPS compound annual growth rate equal to one-half of that included in the forecasts provided by Wrigley’s management. This sensitivity analysis resulted in a range of implied present values per share for each of the years from 2008 through 2012 of $60.00 to $61.00, using the 25.0x multiple, $47.00 to $47.00, using the 18.9x multiple, and $41.00 to $42.00, using the 16.6x multiple.
Illustrative Discounted Cash Flow Analysis. Goldman Sachs performed an illustrative discounted cash flow analysis on Wrigley using forecasts prepared by Wrigley’s management. Goldman Sachs calculated indications of net present value of free cash flows for Wrigley for the years 2008 through 2012 using illustrative discount rates of 7.0% to 8.0% (based on a weighted average cost of capital analysis of the Company). Goldman Sachs then calculated implied total equity values per share using illustrative terminal values in the year 2012 based on multiples ranging from 13.0x EBITDA to 15.0x EBITDA. These illustrative terminal values were then discounted using the illustrative discount rates and added to the net present value of the free cash flows for the years 2008 through 2012 to calculate implied indications of present values. After deducting the Company’s net debt, these analyses resulted in a range of implied total equity value per share of $71.20 to $83.80. Goldman Sachs noted that the midpoint of the range of implied total equity value per share resulting from these analyses was $77.38 per share. Goldman Sachs also calculated the perpetuity growth rates of free cash flows for Wrigley after the year 2012 implied by these analyses, using illustrative discount rates of 7.0% to 8.0% and illustrative terminal values in the year 2012 based on multiples ranging from 13.0x EBITDA to 15.0x EBITDA. These analyses resulted in a range of implied perpetuity growth rates of 2.6% to 4.1%.
To analyze the effects of changes in annual sales growth and EBIT margin on the illustrative discounted cash flow analysis, Goldman Sachs calculated indications of the net present value of free cash flows for Wrigley for the years 2008 through 2012, adjusting the forecasts provided by Wrigley’s management using annual incremental sales growth rates ranging from negative 2.0% to positive 2.0% and incremental annual EBIT margins ranging from negative 2.0% to positive 2.0%, in each case, relative to the forecasts provided by Wrigley’s management. Goldman Sachs calculated implied total equity values per share using an illustrative terminal value in the year 2012 based on a multiple of 14.0x EBITDA. These illustrative terminal values were then discounted using an illustrative discount rate of 7.5% and added to the net present values of the free cash flows for the years 2008 through 2012 to calculate implied indications of present values. After deducting the Company’s net debt, this analysis resulted in a range of implied total equity value per share of $64.12 to $92.38.
Standalone Acquisition Analysis. Goldman Sachs performed a standalone acquisition analysis using financial information included in the forecasts provided by the Company’s management and publicly available historical information. In performing the standalone acquisition analysis, Goldman Sachs assumed hypothetical financial purchase prices per share of Common Stock ranging from $76.00 to $80.00, with synergies, contributed businesses and a leverage structure comparable to the structure contemplated in the Mars proposal. Based on a range of illustrative five-year forward Mars EBITDA exit multiples of 13.0x to 15.0x for the assumed exit at the end of 2012, which reflect illustrative implied prices at which a hypothetical financial buyer might exit its investment through a sale transaction, this analysis resulted in illustrative internal rate of equity returns to a hypothetical financial buyer ranging from 9.4% to 16.4%.
The preparation of a fairness opinion is a complex process and is not necessarily susceptible to partial analysis or summary description. Selecting portions of the analyses or of the summary set forth above, without considering the analyses as a whole, could create an incomplete view of the processes underlying Goldman Sachs’ opinion. In arriving at its fairness determination, Goldman Sachs considered the results of all of its analyses and did not attribute any particular weight to any factor or analysis considered by it. Rather, Goldman Sachs made its determination as to fairness on the basis of its experience and professional judgment after considering the results of all of its analyses. No company or transaction used in the above analyses as a comparison is directly comparable to Wrigley or the contemplated transaction.
34
Goldman Sachs prepared these analyses for purposes of providing its opinion to Wrigley’s board of directors as to the fairness from a financial point of view of the $80.00 per share in cash to be received by the holders (other than Holdings or its affiliates) of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, taken in the aggregate, pursuant to the merger agreement. These analyses do not purport to be appraisals nor do they necessarily reflect the prices at which businesses or securities actually may be sold. Analyses based upon forecasts of future results are not necessarily indicative of actual future results, which may be significantly more or less favorable than suggested by these analyses. Because these analyses are inherently subject to uncertainty, being based upon numerous factors or events beyond the control of the parties or their respective advisors, none of Wrigley, Holdings, Merger Sub, Goldman Sachs or any other person assumes responsibility if future results are materially different from those forecast.
The merger consideration was determined through arms’-length negotiations between Wrigley and Mars and was approved by Wrigley’s board of directors. Goldman Sachs provided advice to Wrigley during these negotiations. Goldman Sachs did not, however, recommend any specific amount of consideration to Wrigley or its board of directors or that any specific amount of consideration constituted the only appropriate consideration for the transaction.
As described above, Goldman Sachs’ opinion to Wrigley’s board of directors was one of many factors taken into consideration by Wrigley’s board of directors in making its determination to approve the merger agreement. The foregoing summary does not purport to be a complete description of the analyses performed by Goldman Sachs in connection with the fairness opinion and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the written opinion of Goldman Sachs attached as Annex B.
Goldman Sachs and its affiliates are engaged in investment banking and financial advisory services, securities trading, investment management, principal investment, financial planning, benefits counseling, risk management, hedging, financing, brokerage activities and other financial and non-financial activities and services for various persons and entities. In the ordinary course of these activities and services, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and its affiliates may at any time make or hold long or short positions and investments, as well as actively trade or effect transactions, in the equity, debt and other securities (or related derivative securities) and financial instruments (including bank loans and other obligations) of Wrigley and of Mars and Berkshire Hathaway, which Goldman Sachs understands will own directly or indirectly approximately 81% and 19%, respectively, of the equity of the surviving corporation upon the consummation of the transaction contemplated by the merger agreement, and any of their respective affiliates and portfolio companies or any currency or commodity that may be involved in the transaction for their own account and for the accounts of their customers. Goldman Sachs has acted as financial advisor to Wrigley in connection with, and has participated in certain of the negotiations leading to, the transaction.
At Wrigley’s request, an affiliate of Goldman Sachs has entered into financing commitments to provide Merger Sub with a senior secured revolving credit facility and senior secured term loan facilities in connection with the consummation of the transaction, which we refer to as the “senior financing”, subject to the terms of such commitments, and pursuant to which one or more affiliates of Goldman Sachs will receive customary fees. In addition, at Wrigley’s request, Goldman Sachs has acted as placement agent to Holdings and Merger Sub in connection with a direct or indirect equity investment to be made by Berkshire Hathaway in Merger Sub and a senior subordinated debt facility to be provided by Berkshire Hathaway to Merger Sub in connection with the consummation of the transaction, which we refer to as the “mezz financing”, and for which Goldman Sachs will receive customary fees. Potential conflicts of interest (or a perception thereof) between Goldman Sachs and Wrigley may arise as a result of the senior financing and/or placement agency arrangements for the mezz financing, and the fees to be received by Goldman Sachs or its affiliates in connection therewith. Goldman Sachs or its affiliate, as applicable, is acting as an independent contractor in connection with the senior financing and the placement agency arrangements for the mezz financing and will not have, and the senior financing and the placement agency arrangements for the mezz financing will not be deemed to create, an advisory, fiduciary or agency relationship, or any fiduciary or other implied
35
duties, between Goldman Sachs or its affiliate, on the one hand, and Wrigley, and its equity holders and affiliates, on the other. In addition, Goldman Sachs has looked and will look solely to Goldman Sachs’ own interests and objectives, in the case of the senior financing, and the interests and objectives of Holdings and Merger Sub in accordance with the placement agency arrangements, in the case of the mezz financing, including determining whether, and on what terms, it committed to arrange, provide and/or place the senior financing and the mezz financing. Wrigley consented to Goldman Sachs acting as its financial advisor in connection with the transaction, to Goldman Sachs providing financing commitments to Merger Sub for the senior financing and to Goldman Sachs acting as placement agent to Holdings and Merger Sub for the mezz financing.
Goldman Sachs has provided certain investment banking and other financial services to Wrigley and its affiliates from time to time, including having acted as joint bookrunner with respect to an offering by Wrigley of its 4.30% Senior Notes due July 2010 (aggregate principal amount of $500,000,000) and 4.65% Senior Notes due July 2015 (aggregate principal amount of $500,000,000) in July 2005; and as financial advisor to Wrigley in connection with its acquisition of A. Korkunov in February 2007.
Goldman Sachs has also provided and is currently providing certain investment banking and other financial services to Mars, including having acted as financial advisor to Mars in connection with its divestiture of MEI Conlux in April 2006; its acquisition of S&M NuTec, LLC in May 2006; its acquisition of Doane Pet Care Enterprises Inc. in June 2006; and its acquisition of Nutro Products, Inc. in June 2007. Goldman Sachs has also provided and is currently providing certain investment banking and other financial services to Berkshire Hathaway and its affiliates and portfolio companies, including having acted as financial advisor to Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance, Inc., a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, in connection with its acquisition of a loan portfolio in January 2005; as bookrunner with respect to an offering by Berkshire Hathaway Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway or “Berkshire Hathaway Finance,” of its Floating Rate Senior Notes due 2008 (aggregate principal amount of $800,000,000) and 4.75% Senior Notes due 2012 (aggregate principal amount of $700,000,000) in May 2005; as sole bookrunner with respect to an offering by XTRA Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, of its 5.150% Senior Notes due 2017 (aggregate principal amount of $400,000,000) in March 2007; as joint bookrunner with respect to an offering of MidAmerican Energy Company, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, of its 5.65% Senior Notes due 2012 (aggregate principal amount of $400,000,000) and its 5.95% Senior Notes due May 2017 (aggregate principal amount of $250,000,000) in June 2007; as sole bookrunner with respect to an offering by Berkshire Hathaway Finance of its 5.125% Senior Notes due 2012 (aggregate principal amount of $750,000,000) in September 2007; as co-lead manager with respect to an offering by MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, of its 6.50% Senior Bonds due September 2037 (aggregate principal amount of $1,000,000,000) in September 2007; and as sole bookrunner with respect to an offering by Berkshire Hathaway Finance of its 4.50% Senior Notes due 2013 (aggregate principal amount of $500,000,000) and Floating Rate Notes due 2011 (aggregate principal amount of $1,500,000,000) in January 2008.
Goldman Sachs may also provide investment banking and other financial services to Wrigley, Mars, Berkshire Hathaway and their respective affiliates and portfolio companies in the future. In connection with the above-described services Goldman Sachs has received, and may receive, compensation.
The board of directors of Wrigley selected Goldman Sachs as its financial advisor because it is an internationally recognized investment banking firm that has substantial experience in transactions similar to the transaction. Pursuant to a letter agreement dated April 11, 2008, Wrigley engaged Goldman Sachs to act as its financial advisor in connection with the transaction. Pursuant to the terms of this engagement letter, Wrigley has agreed to pay Goldman Sachs a transaction fee of approximately $46 million, the principal portion of which is payable upon consummation of the transaction. In addition, Wrigley has agreed to reimburse Goldman Sachs for its expenses, including attorneys’ fees
36
and disbursements, and to indemnify Goldman Sachs and related persons against various liabilities, including certain liabilities under the federal securities laws.
Opinion of William Blair
William Blair was retained to act as an independent financial advisor to the board of directors of Wrigley to render certain investment banking services in connection with a potential business combination of Wrigley with Mars. In particular, Wrigley requested the opinion of William Blair as to the fairness, from a financial point of view, to the holders (other than Holdings or its affiliates) of the outstanding shares of the Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, collectively, of Wrigley of the consideration of $80.00 in cash per share of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock to be paid to the holders of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock pursuant to the merger agreement. On April 27, 2008, William Blair delivered its oral opinion to the Wrigley board of directors and subsequently confirmed in writing, dated April 27, 2008, that, as of that date and based upon and subject to the assumptions and qualifications stated in its opinion, the consideration of $80.00 in cash per share of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock was fair, from a financial point of view, to the holders (other than Holdings or its affiliates) of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, collectively. William Blair was not asked to consider, and its opinion does not address, the allocation of the merger consideration to be paid in the merger among the holders of Common Stock and the holders of Class B Common Stock, respectively.
William Blair provided the opinion described above for the information and assistance of the Wrigley board of directors in connection with its consideration of the merger. The terms of the merger agreement and the amount and form of the merger consideration, however, were determined through negotiations between Wrigley, on the one hand, and Holdings and its affiliates, on the other hand, and were approved by the Wrigley board of directors. The opinion described above delivered to the Wrigley board of directors was reviewed and approved by William Blair’s fairness opinion committee. William Blair has consented to the inclusion in this proxy statement of its opinion and the description of its opinion appearing under this subheading “Opinion of William Blair.”
THE FULL TEXT OF WILLIAM BLAIR’S WRITTEN OPINION, DATED APRIL 27, 2008, IS ATTACHED AS ANNEX C TO THIS PROXY STATEMENT AND INCORPORATED INTO THIS DOCUMENT BY REFERENCE. YOU ARE URGED TO READ THE ENTIRE OPINION CAREFULLY AND IN ITS ENTIRETY TO LEARN ABOUT THE ASSUMPTIONS MADE, PROCEDURES FOLLOWED, MATTERS CONSIDERED AND LIMITS ON THE SCOPE OF THE REVIEW UNDERTAKEN BY WILLIAM BLAIR IN RENDERING ITS OPINION. WILLIAM BLAIR’S OPINION WAS DIRECTED TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WRIGLEY FOR ITS BENEFIT AND USE IN EVALUATING THE FAIRNESS OF THE MERGER CONSIDERATION AND RELATES ONLY TO THE FAIRNESS, AS OF THE DATE OF THE OPINION AND FROM A FINANCIAL POINT OF VIEW, OF THE CONSIDERATION TO BE RECEIVED BY THE HOLDERS (OTHER THAN HOLDINGS OR ITS AFFILIATES), COLLECTIVELY, OF THE OUTSTANDING SHARES OF COMMON STOCK AND CLASS B COMMON STOCK IN THE MERGER PURSUANT TO THE MERGER AGREEMENT, DOES NOT ADDRESS ANY OTHER ASPECT OF THE PROPOSED MERGER OR ANY RELATED TRANSACTION AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A RECOMMENDATION TO ANY STOCKHOLDER AS TO HOW THAT STOCKHOLDER SHOULD VOTE WITH RESPECT TO THE MERGER AGREEMENT OR THE MERGER. WILLIAM BLAIR DID NOT ADDRESS THE MERITS OF THE UNDERLYING DECISION BY WRIGLEY TO ENGAGE IN THE MERGER. THE FOLLOWING SUMMARY OF WILLIAM BLAIR’S OPINION IS QUALIFIED IN ITS ENTIRETY BY REFERENCE TO THE FULL TEXT OF THE OPINION.
In connection with its opinion, William Blair examined or discussed, among other things:
| • | the draft merger agreement (draft dated April 27, 2008) and oral representations from Wrigley management and Wrigley counsel regarding changes to the terms of such draft merger agreement (the “draft Merger Agreement”); |
37
| • | certain audited historical financial statements of Wrigley for the years ended December 31, 2007 as set forth in the most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed by Wrigley; |
| • | the unaudited draft financial statements (excluding the notes to financial statements for the 2008 interim period) of Wrigley for the three months ended March 31, 2008 and March 31, 2007; |
| • | certain internal business, operating and financial information and forecasts of Wrigley for the fiscal years 2008 to 2012 prepared by Wrigley senior management (which we refer to in this section of the proxy statement as the “forecasts”); |
| • | information regarding publicly available financial terms of certain other business combinations William Blair deemed relevant; |
| • | the financial position and operating results of Wrigley compared with those of certain other publicly traded companies William Blair deemed relevant; |
| • | current and historical market prices and trading volumes of the Common Stock and the common stock of certain other publicly traded companies William Blair deemed relevant; and |
| • | certain other publicly available information on Wrigley. |
William Blair also held discussions with members of Wrigley senior management to discuss the foregoing, considered other matters which it deemed relevant to its inquiry and took into account such accepted financial and investment banking procedures and considerations as it deemed relevant. William Blair was not requested to, nor did, William Blair solicit the interest of other parties in a possible business combination transaction with Wrigley.
In rendering its opinion, William Blair assumed and relied, without independent verification, upon the accuracy and completeness of all the information examined by or otherwise reviewed or discussed with William Blair for purposes of its opinion including, without limitation, the forecasts provided by Wrigley’s management, and William Blair did not assume any responsibility or liability therefor. William Blair did not make or obtain an independent valuation or appraisal of the assets, liabilities or solvency of Wrigley, nor were any such valuations or appraisals provided to William Blair. William Blair was advised by Wrigley’s senior management that the forecasts examined by William Blair were reasonably prepared on a basis reflecting the best then available estimates and judgments of Wrigley’s senior management. In that regard, William Blair assumed, with Wrigley’s consent, that: (i) the forecasts will be achieved in the amounts and at the times contemplated thereby; and (ii) all material assets and liabilities (contingent or otherwise) of Wrigley are as set forth in Wrigley’s financial statements or other information made available to William Blair. William Blair expressed no opinion with respect to the forecasts or the estimates and judgments on which they are based. William Blair was not requested to, and did not, participate in the negotiation or structuring of the merger. William Blair was not asked to consider, and its opinion does not address, the relative merits of the merger as compared to any alternative business strategies that might exist for Wrigley or the effect of any other transaction in which Wrigley might engage, or the allocation of the merger consideration to be paid in the merger among the holders of Common Stock and the holders of Class B Common Stock, respectively. William Blair expressed no opinion with respect to the fairness of the amount or nature of the compensation to any of Wrigley’s officers, directors or employees, or any class of such persons, relative to the consideration to be received by the holders of shares of Common Stock and Class B Common Stock pursuant to the merger agreement. William Blair’s opinion was based upon economic, market, financial and other conditions existing on, and other information disclosed to William Blair as of, April 27, 2008. It should be understood that, although subsequent developments may affect its opinion, William Blair does not have any obligation to update, revise or reaffirm its opinion. William Blair’s opinion does not address any legal, regulatory, tax or accounting matters. William Blair assumed that the executed merger agreement conforms in all material respects to the last draft merger agreement reviewed by William Blair and that the merger will be consummated on the terms described in the draft merger agreement, without any amendment or waiver of any material terms or conditions.
38
The following is a summary of the material financial analyses performed and material factors considered by William Blair to arrive at its opinion. William Blair performed certain procedures, including each of the financial analyses described below, and reviewed with Wrigley’s board of directors the assumptions upon which such analyses were based, as well as other factors. Although the summary does not purport to describe all of the analyses performed or factors considered by William Blair in this regard, it does set forth those considered by William Blair to be material in arriving at its opinion.
Selected Public Company Analysis. William Blair reviewed and compared certain financial information relating to Wrigley to corresponding financial information, ratios and public market multiples for a selected group of publicly traded companies that consisted of branded packaged food companies with market capitalizations over $10 billion and confection companies with market capitalizations over $5 billion. William Blair selected these companies because they are the publicly traded companies with general business, operating and financial characteristics deemed reasonably comparable to those of Wrigley. The companies selected by William Blair were:
| • | Cadbury Schweppes plc |
| • | Campbell Soup Company |
| • | ConAgra Foods, Inc. |
| • | General Mills, Inc. |
| • | Groupe Danone |
| • | The Hershey Company |
| • | H.J. Heinz Company |
| • | Kellogg Company |
| • | Kraft Foods, Inc. |
| • | Nestle S.A. |
| • | Pepsico, Inc. |
Among the information William Blair considered for Wrigley was (i) revenue, operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (commonly referred to as “EBITDA”), and operating earnings before interest and taxes (commonly referred to as “EBIT”) on an adjusted basis, reflecting the exclusion of non-recurring restructuring charges, for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2007; (ii) Wrigley’s unaudited internal financial estimates of its revenue, EBITDA and EBIT on an adjusted basis, reflecting the exclusion of non-recurring restructuring charges for the last twelve months (commonly referred to as “LTM”) ended March 31, 2008; and (iii) Wrigley’s forecast EPS for the fiscal years ending December 31, 2008 and 2009.
William Blair considered the enterprise value of each selected public company, which William Blair defined as the company’s market capitalization calculated on a fully-diluted basis as of April 25, 2008 plus preferred equity, minority interest and total debt, less cash and cash equivalents, as a multiple of revenue, EBITDA and EBIT for each company for the LTM period for which results were publicly available and the stock price of common equity as a multiple of EPS for each company for the respective calendar year EPS estimates for 2008 and 2009. The operating results and the corresponding derived multiples for each of the selected public companies were based on each company’s most recent available publicly disclosed financial information, closing share prices as of April 25, 2008 and consensus Wall Street analysts’ EPS estimates for calendar years 2008 and 2009. William Blair similarly adjusted the historical results of the selected public companies, where appropriate and publicly disclosed, to eliminate the impact of non-recurring items included in their financial information. William Blair noted that it did not have access to internal forecasts for any of the selected public companies.
39
The implied enterprise value of Wrigley based on the terms of the proposed merger is based on the equity value implied by the merger consideration plus the total debt, less cash and cash equivalents assumed to be held by Wrigley at March 31, 2008. William Blair derived Wrigley’s implied enterprise value by multiplying the proposed purchase price per share of $80.00 by the aggregate number of shares, in-the-money options, stock grants and restricted stock outstanding as of April 15, 2008 to arrive at an implied net equity value of $22,313.1 million. William Blair then added Wrigley’s estimated March 31, 2008 debt of $1,170.0 million and subtracted the estimated cash of $337.0 million to the implied net equity value to arrive at Wrigley’s implied enterprise value of $23,146.1 million.
William Blair then derived the multiples implied for Wrigley based on the terms of the proposed merger and compared these multiples to the range of trading multiples for the selected public companies. Information regarding the multiples from William Blair’s analysis of selected publicly traded companies is set forth in the following table.
| Wrigley at $80.00 per share |
Selected Public Company Valuation Multiples | |||||||||
| Multiple |
Minimum |
Median |
Mean |
Maximum | ||||||
| Enterprise Value / 2007 Revenue |
4.29x | |||||||||
| Enterprise Value / LTM Revenue |
4.14x | 1.14x | 2.02x | 2.09x | 2.90x | |||||
| Enterprise Value / 2007 Adj. EBITDA |
19.4x | |||||||||
| Enterprise Value / LTM Adj. EBITDA |
18.5x | 8.6x | 10.7x | 11.5x | 16.7x | |||||
| Enterprise Value / 2007 Adj. EBIT |
23.7x | |||||||||
| Enterprise Value / LTM Adj. EBIT |
22.5x | 11.8x | 12.9x | 14.1x | 20.3x | |||||
| Price to Estimated 2008 EPS |
32.1x | 13.5x | 16.7x | 17.0x | 20.1x | |||||
| Price to Estimated 2009 EPS |
29.2x | 13.8x | 15.2x | 15.6x | 17.7x | |||||
William Blair noted that the implied valuation multiples for Wrigley based on the terms of the merger were in all cases above the relevant median and mean valuation multiples and above the range of multiples of the selected public companies set forth above.
Although William Blair compared the trading multiples of the selected public companies to those implied for Wrigley, none of the selected public companies is identical to Wrigley. Accordingly, any analysis of the selected publicly-traded companies necessarily would involve complex considerations and judgments concerning the differences in financial and operating characteristics and other factors that would necessarily affect the analysis of trading multiples of the selected publicly traded companies.
Selected M&A Transactions Analysis. William Blair performed an analysis of thirteen selected business combinations consisting of transactions that involved the acquisition of companies similar to Wrigley in the branded packaged food, confectionary and branded consumer products industries. William Blair’s analysis was based solely on publicly available information regarding such transactions. The selected transactions were not intended to be representative of the entire range of possible transactions in the respective industries. The transactions examined had transaction values between $1.0 billion and $58.0 billion and all closed subsequent to January 1, 2000. The transactions examined were (identified by target / acquirer and month and year of completion):
| • | Koninklijke Numico / Groupe Danone (November 2007); |
| • | Global Biscuit Business (Groupe Danone) / Kraft Foods, Inc. (November 2007); |
| • | Gerber Products Company / Nestle S.A. (August 2007); |
| • | Gillette Co. / Procter & Gamble Co. (October 2005); |
| • | Sugar Confectionary Division of CSM nv / CVC Capital Partners (March 2005); |
40
| • | Life Savers & Altoids Brands (Kraft Foods, Inc.) / Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company (June 2005); |
| • | Adams Confectionary Business (Pfizer, Inc.) / Cadbury Schweppes plc (March 2003); |
| • | Ralston Purina Company / Nestle S.A. (December 2001); |
| • | Quaker Oats Company / Pepsico, Inc. (August 2001); |
| • | Keebler Company / Kellogg Company (March 2001); |
| • | Pillsbury Company / General Mills, Inc. (October 2001); |
| • | Bestfoods, Inc. / Unilever plc (October 2000); and |
| • | Nabisco Holdings Corporation / Phillip Morris International, Inc. (December 2000). |
William Blair reviewed the consideration paid in the selected transactions in terms of the enterprise value of the target in these transactions as a multiple of the revenue, EBITDA and EBIT of the target for the latest twelve months prior to the announcement of the applicable transaction. William Blair compared the resulting range of transaction multiples of revenue, EBITDA and EBIT for the selected transactions to the implied transaction multiples for Wrigley derived using December 31, 2007 and March 31, 2008 LTM revenue, EBITDA and EBIT on an adjusted basis, reflecting the exclusion of non-recurring restructuring charges, based on the $80.00 per share consideration per the terms of the proposed merger. William Blair similarly adjusted the historical results of the acquired companies, where appropriate and publicly disclosed, to eliminate the impact of non-recurring items included in their financial information. Information regarding the multiples from William Blair’s analysis of the selected transactions is set forth in the following table:
| Multiple |
Wrigley at |
Selected Transaction Valuation Multiples | ||||||||
| Minimum |
Median |
Mean |
Maximum | |||||||
| Enterprise Value / 2007 Revenue |
4.29x | |||||||||
| Enterprise Value / LTM Revenue |
4.14x | 1.06x | 2.73x | 2.95x | 5.75x | |||||
| Enterprise Value / 2007 Adj. EBITDA |
19.4x | |||||||||
| Enterprise Value / LTM Adj. EBITDA |
18.5x | 9.1x | 14.3x | 14.7x | 23.0x | |||||
| Enterprise Value / 2007 Adj. EBIT |
23.7x | |||||||||
| Enterprise Value / LTM Adj. EBIT |
22.5x | 13.2x | 17.9x | 18.5x | 25.7x | |||||
William Blair noted that the implied valuation multiples for Wrigley based on the terms of the merger were in all cases above the relevant median and mean valuation multiples and within the range of multiples of the selected transactions.
Although William Blair analyzed the multiples implied by the selected transactions and compared them to the implied transaction multiples of Wrigley, none of these transactions or associated companies is identical to the merger or Wrigley. Accordingly, any analysis of the selected transactions necessarily would involve complex considerations and judgments concerning the differences in financial and operating characteristics, parties involved and terms of their transactions and other factors that would necessarily affect the implied value of Wrigley in the merger versus the values of the companies in the selected transactions.
Premiums Paid Analysis. William Blair reviewed data from 48 acquisitions of publicly traded domestic companies, in which 100% of the target’s equity was acquired, occurring since January 1, 1998 and with transaction equity values between $15 billion and $40 billion. Specifically, William Blair analyzed the acquisition price per share as a premium to the closing share price one day, one week, one month, 90 days and 180 days prior to the announcement of the transaction, for all 48 transactions. William Blair compared the range of resulting per share stock price premiums for the reviewed
41
transactions to the premiums implied by the merger based on Wrigley’s respective Common Stock price one day, one week, one month, 90 days and 180 days prior to an assumed announcement date of the merger of April 28, 2008. William Blair did not perform this analysis for Wrigley’s Class B Common Stock as it is not publicly traded. Information regarding the premiums from William Blair’s analysis of selected transactions is set forth in the following table:
| Premium to Common at $80.00 per share |
Premium Paid Percentage Data by Percentile | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Premium Before |
10th | 20th | 30th | 40th | 50th | 60th | 70th | 80th | 90th | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1 Day |
28.1% | (0.3%) | 5.8 | % | 8.8 | % | 13.2 | % | 15.2 | % | 20.5 | % | 23.2 | % | 29.7 | % | 40.2 | % | ||||||||||
| 1 Week |
28.0% | (0.3%) | 6.1 | % | 9.4 | % | 16.2 | % | 21.1 | % | 22.8 | % | 28.2 | % | 32.0 | % | 42.4 | % | ||||||||||
| 1 Month |
27.7% | (3.5%) | 4.5 | % | 9.1 | % | 19.1 | % | 23.4 | % | 29.5 | % | 35.0 | % | 39.7 | % | 51.7 | % | ||||||||||
| 90 Days |
35.3% | (2.4%) | 4.6 | % | 14.8 | % | 23.6 | % | 26.7 | % | 36.0 | % | 43.4 | % | 62.1 | % | 98.5 | % | ||||||||||
| 180 Days |
29.7% | (16.1%) | 0.9 | % | 10.9 | % | 20.4 | % | 27.5 | % | 35.3 | % | 48.0 | % | 67.2 | % | 156.2 | % | ||||||||||
William Blair noted that the Common Stock premiums implied by the terms of the merger exceeded the 70th percentile for the one day time period, the 60th percentile for the one week time period, and the 50th percentile for the one month, 90 day and 180 day time periods.
Although William Blair compared the percentage purchase price premiums of these transactions to the implied percentage purchase price premium for the merger, none of these transactions or associated companies is identical to the merger or Wrigley. Accordingly, any analysis of the selected transactions necessarily would involve complex considerations and judgments concerning the differences in financial and operating characteristics, parties involved and terms of their transactions and other factors that would necessarily affect the comparison of the percentage purchase price premium implied by the merger versus the percentage purchase price premiums of these transactions.
Discounted Cash Flow Analysis. William Blair utilized information included in the forecasts provided by Wrigley’s management to perform a discounted cash flow analysis of Wrigley’s projected future cash flows for the period commencing March 31, 2008 and ending December 31, 2012. Using discounted cash flow methodology, William Blair calculated the present values of the projected free cash flows for Wrigley. In this analysis, William Blair assumed discount rates ranging from 7% to 9% and calculated Wrigley’s terminal value using assumed 2012 EBITDA exit multiples ranging from 12.0x to 16.0x. William Blair noted that the assumed terminal EBITDA exit multiple range was based on the range of multiples from the selected public company trading analysis and selected transaction analysis shown above. William Blair made its discount rate assumption based on weighted average cost of capital analysis applying the capital asset pricing model. William Blair aggregated (i) the present value of the free cash flows over the applicable forecast period with (ii) the present value of the range of terminal values. The aggregate present value of these items represented the enterprise value range. William Blair then derived a range of fully-diluted equity values per share by adding Wrigley’s cash and subtracting Wrigley’s debt to the resulting enterprise value range and by dividing by Wrigley’s total shares outstanding, in-the-money options, stock grants and restricted stock outstanding as of April 15, 2008. The fully-diluted equity value per share implied by the discounted cash flow analysis ranged from $62.18 per share to $86.66 per share, as compared to the merger consideration per share of $80.00.
Leveraged Acquisition Analysis. William Blair utilized information included in the forecasts provided by Wrigley’s management to perform an analysis as to the price that could be paid by a typical leveraged buyout purchaser to acquire Wrigley. In this analysis, William Blair assumed a capital structure and financing rate scenario representative of the prevailing market for leveraged acquisitions for companies similar to Wrigley. This analysis assumed (i) a four year and nine month holding period commencing March 31, 2008 and ending December 31, 2012; (ii) a targeted internal rate of return to
42
equity investors of approximately 15% to 25%; and (iii) a range of exit multiples of projected 2012 EBITDA of 12.0x to 16.0x. William Blair noted that the assumed EBITDA exit multiple range was based on the range of multiples from the selected public company trading analysis and selected transaction analysis shown above. This analysis indicated that the consideration a leveraged buyout purchaser might be willing to pay per share of Wrigley ranged from $49.63 to $70.73, as compared to the merger consideration of $80.00 per share.
General. This summary is not a complete description of the analysis performed by William Blair but contains the material elements of the analysis. The preparation of an opinion regarding fairness is a complex process involving various determinations as to the most appropriate and relevant methods of financial analysis and the application of those methods to the particular circumstances, and, therefore, such an opinion is not readily susceptible to partial analysis or summary description. The preparation of an opinion regarding fairness does not involve a mathematical evaluation or weighing of the results of the individual analyses performed, but requires William Blair to exercise its professional judgment, based on its experience and expertise, in considering a wide variety of analyses taken as a whole. Each of the analyses conducted by William Blair was carried out in order to provide a different perspective on the financial terms of the proposed merger and add to the total mix of information available. The analyses were prepared solely for the purpose of William Blair providing its opinion and do not purport to be appraisals or necessarily reflect the prices at which securities actually may be sold. William Blair did not form a conclusion as to whether any individual analysis, considered in isolation, supported or failed to support an opinion about the fairness of the consideration to be received by the holders (other than Holdings or its affiliates) of the Company’s Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, collectively. Rather, in reaching its conclusion, William Blair considered the results of the analyses in light of each other and ultimately reached its opinion based on the results of all analyses taken as a whole. William Blair did not place particular reliance or weight on any particular analysis, but instead concluded that its analyses, taken as a whole, supported its determination. Accordingly, notwithstanding the separate factors summarized above, William Blair believes that its analyses must be considered as a whole and that selecting portions of its analyses and the factors considered by it, without considering all analyses and factors, may create an incomplete view of the evaluation process underlying its opinion. No company or transaction used in the above analyses as a comparison is directly comparable to Wrigley or the merger. In performing its analyses, William Blair made numerous assumptions with respect to industry performance, business and economic conditions and other matters. The analyses performed by William Blair are not necessarily indicative of future actual values and future results, which may be significantly more or less favorable than suggested by such analyses.
William Blair is a nationally recognized firm and has been engaged in the investment banking business since 1935. William Blair continually undertakes the valuation of investment securities in connection with public offerings, private placements, business combinations, estate and gift tax valuations and similar transactions. In the ordinary course of its business, William Blair may from time to time trade the securities of Wrigley for its own account and for the accounts of its customers, and accordingly may at any time hold a long or short position in such securities. In addition, William Blair provides equity research coverage on Wrigley. There have been no material relationships between William Blair, on the one hand, and any of the parties to the merger agreement or Berkshire Hathaway, on the other hand, during the past two years or that are currently contemplated in which compensation was received or intended to be received.
Wrigley hired William Blair based on its qualifications and expertise in providing financial advice to companies and its reputation as a nationally recognized investment banking firm. Pursuant to a letter agreement dated April 19, 2008, Wrigley agreed to pay William Blair a retainer fee of $200,000. An additional fee of $2.3 million became payable to William Blair upon delivery of its opinion. None of those fees was contingent upon the closing of the merger. In addition, Wrigley has agreed to reimburse William Blair for certain of its out-of-pocket expenses (including fees and expenses of its counsel) reasonably incurred by it in connection with its services and will indemnify William Blair against certain liabilities arising out of its engagement.
43
Wrigley does not publicly disclose forecasts of future revenues, earnings or other results. However, we provided Goldman Sachs and William Blair with (and reviewed with Mars) certain non-public business and financial information about the Company in connection with the preparation of their respective fairness opinions and related financial analyses. The information provided to Goldman Sachs and William Blair (and reviewed with Mars) included our results of operations and financial position for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 and forecasts for the fiscal years 2008 through 2012. The forecasts included estimates of sales, gross profit, EBITDA, EBIT, net income, capital expenditures and working capital as a percentage of sales. The forecasts were not prepared with a view to public disclosure and are included in this proxy statement only because such information was provided to Goldman Sachs and William Blair (and reviewed with Mars). The forecasts were not prepared with a view to compliance with published guidelines of the SEC or the guidelines established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants for preparation and presentation of prospective financial information. The forecasts included in this proxy statement have been prepared by, and are the responsibility of, the Company’s management. The inclusion of the forecasts in this proxy statement should not be regarded as an indication that such forecasts will be predictive of actual future results, and the forecasts should not be relied upon as such. No representation is made by the Company or any other person to any security holder of the Company regarding the ultimate performance of the Company compared to the information contained in the forecasts. The Company does not intend to update or otherwise revise the forecasts to reflect circumstances existing after the date when made or to reflect the occurrence of future events even in the event that any or all of the assumptions underlying the forecasts are shown to be in error. These forecasts do not give effect to the merger.
The forecasts are summarized below:
| In millions of dollars, except per share |
2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |||||||||||||||
| Sales |
$ | 6,039 | $ | 6,613 | $ | 7,215 | $ | 7,893 | $ | 8,635 | ||||||||||
| Gross Profit |
3,196 | 3,492 | 3,816 | 4,167 | 4,559 | |||||||||||||||
| EBITDA |
1,325 | 1,443 | 1,580 | 1,730 | 1,897 | |||||||||||||||
| EBIT |
1,083 | 1,179 | 1,292 | 1,414 | 1,551 | |||||||||||||||
| Net Income |
688 | 757 | 834 | 918 | 1,011 | |||||||||||||||
| Capital Expenditures |
325 | 340 | 356 | 373 | 390 | |||||||||||||||
| Working Capital as a % of Sales |
4 | % | 4 | % | 4 | % | 4 | % | 4 | % | ||||||||||
In preparing the above projections, the Company made a number of assumptions, including assumptions regarding currency, inflation, commodity pricing, conversion costs, product mix, category and share growth rates and level of brand support. No assurances can be given that these assumptions will accurately reflect future conditions. Although presented with numerical specificity, these projections reflect numerous assumptions and estimates as to future events made by the Company’s management that the Company’s management believed were reasonable at the time the projections were prepared and other factors such as industry performance and general business, economic, regulatory, market and financial conditions, all of which are difficult to predict and beyond the control of the Company’s management. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that the projections will be realized, and actual results may be materially greater or less than those reflected in the projections. You should review our most recent SEC filings for a description of risk factors with respect to our business. See “Where You Can Find More Information” beginning on page 84.
44
Interests of Wrigley’s Directors and Executive Officers in the Merger
When considering the recommendation of Wrigley’s board of directors, you should be aware that the members of our board of directors and our executive officers have interests in the merger other than the interests of Wrigley stockholders generally, pursuant to certain agreements between such directors and executive officers and us and certain company benefit plans. These interests may be different from, or in conflict with, your interests as a Wrigley stockholder. The members of our board of directors were aware of these additional interests, and considered them, when they approved the merger agreement.
Effect of Awards Outstanding Under Wrigley’s Stock Plans
Stock Options
At the effective time of the merger, each outstanding option, whether or not vested or exercisable, to acquire our Common Stock will be adjusted under the applicable plan and converted into the right of the holder to receive an amount in cash, without interest and less any applicable withholding tax, payable promptly following the effective time of the merger, equal to the product of:
| • | the total number of shares of Common Stock subject to such option and |
| • | the excess of $80.00 over the exercise price per share of Common Stock subject to such option. |
45
The following table summarizes the outstanding vested and unvested options with exercise prices of less than $80.00 per share held by our executive officers and directors as of May 9, 2008 and the consideration that each of them will receive pursuant to the merger agreement in connection with the cancellation of their options, assuming continued employment through the effective time of the merger:
| No. of Shares Underlying Vested Options |
Weighted Average Exercise Price of Vested Options |
No. of Shares Underlying Unvested Options |
Weighted Average Exercise Price of Unvested Options |
Resulting Consideration | ||||||
| Directors: |
||||||||||
| John F. Bard |
103,418 | $32.36 | 11,532 | $53.47 | $ 5,233,025 | |||||
| Howard B. Bernick |
15,918 | $45.92 | 11,532 | $53.47 | $ 848,375 | |||||
| Thomas A. Knowlton |
15,918 | $45.54 | 11,532 | $53.47 | $ 854,525 | |||||
| John Rau |
2,825 | $51.71 | 10,625 | $53.78 | $ 358,486 | |||||
| Melinda Rich |
15,918 | $45.54 | 11,532 | $53.47 | $ 854,525 | |||||
| Steven B. Sample |
15,918 | $45.54 | 11,532 | $53.47 | $ 854,525 | |||||
| Alex Shumate |
12,168 | $47.71 | 11,532 | $53.47 | $ 698,825 | |||||
| Richard K. Smucker |
15,918 | $45.54 | 11,532 | $53.47 | $ 854,525 | |||||
| Executive Officers: |
||||||||||
| William Wrigley, Jr. |
456,875 | $48.76 | 677,750 | $53.12 | $ 32,492,835 | |||||
| William D. Perez |
137,500 | $53.85 | 696,500 | $55.57 | $ 20,611,960 | |||||
| Reuben Gamoran |
90,012 | |||||||||