Kraft Heinz hires banker to examine possible sale of his Maxwell House coffee business: CNBC By Reuters

(Reuters) – The food business Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ 🙂 Co has hired an investment bank Swiss credit (SIX 🙂 to examine options for his Maxwell House coffee business, including a potential sale, CNBC reported on Sunday, citing people close to the issue.

The coffee business has a profit of about $ 400 million before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and could generate a sale price of at least $ 3 billion, unidentified sources told CNBC.

The sale of the coffee industry will be one of many divestments by Kraft Heinz, sources told CNBC.

Kraft Heinz spokesman Michael Mullen declined to comment on CNBC's report, but said the company is focused on developing its brands around growing, profitable brands for which it believes it has a competitive advantage.

"We will explore asset sales based on this framework and will engage if this alternative is superior to our goal of keeping the business and helping to improve the growth of the company and its trajectory. margin, "he said in an email to Reuters on Sunday.

Reuters could not contact Credit Suisse immediately for a comment, but a spokeswoman declined to comment to CNBC.

Kraft Heinz shares fell to record lows on Friday, a day after revealing a $ 15 billion write-down on its well-known brands. Also on Thursday, the company announced that it would reduce its dividend by 36% and revealed that the US Securities and Exchange Commission was conducting an investigation into the company's accounting policies.

The Brazilian acquisition fund 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE 🙂 Inc. of Warren Buffett together own more than 50% of the shares of Kraft Heinz.

Kraft's revenue growth stagnated in the years following its merger with Heinz, as consumers moved away from old and established brands for new products, cheaper private brands and organic foods.