Ralcorp to Purchase Post cereals ?

Implications: Ralcorp's potential pucrhase of Post cereals for $2.8 billion dollars will shake up the cereal category and provide another stronger competitor to General Mills and Kellogg's.The winner will be Ralcorp if they can successfully integrate Post and leverage their brands to strengthen their private label sales.The losers will be Malt-O-Meal and Quaker as both brands will be under further pressure in a consoildated category.  For Kraft Foods it means their divestiture strategy will speed up and provide them additional dollars to pursue acquisitions.Kraft's growth startegy is predicated on shifting their portfolio to focus on more international growth and focusing on the key snacks,beverages and possibly confections in markets outside the US.

Analysis:  As a former VP of Marketing for Malt-O-Meal cereals and former Director of Marketing for Kraft its interesting to see these widely different companies potentially come together.Kraft Foods is the classic marketer with heavy focus on brands and advertising.Ralcorp has a wide variety of private label offerings in many categories.They do very little classic brand building or marketing and rely on relationships with key retailers to drive volume and profit.
At first it would seem an odd fit but clearly Ralcorp has a strategy that brings the two companies together.Time will tell if the marriage can produce strong results.