990726 Tyson Completes Sale of Seafood Assets

Springdale, AR - Tyson Foods, Inc. announced that it has completed its sale of the assets in its seafood division, Tyson Seafood Group, in two separate transactions, originally announced on May 28. The analog business, which includes the manufacture, sales, distribution and marketing of surimi based products under trade names Louis Kemp, Captain Jac, SeaFest and Pacific Mate, was sold to Bumble Bee Seafoods, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of International Home Foods, Inc. of Parsippany, New Jersey. The remaining seafood assets, which include vessels, associated fishing rights and shoreside processing plants, were sold to TT Acquisition, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Trident Seafoods Corporation of Seattle, Washington.

In these transactions, Tyson will receive proceeds of approximately $180 million for assets with approximate carrying values of $197 million. Those proceeds will be used to reduce indebtedness. The Seafood Group sales for fiscal 1998 were approximately $214 million.

Tyson CEO, Wayne Britt, said “Tyson is focusing on its core business- producing and marketing chicken and poultry based food products. We are pleased to exit the seafood business in transactions that benefit all involved parties. In addition, strategies for our live swine business, which continues to operate in a difficult market environment, are also being actively pursued. We look forward to directing our energy and resources to what we do the best- chicken.”

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