Dive Brief:
- US Foods and Performance Food Group will no longer pursue a potential merger, the companies announced Monday.
- The food distributors stopped discussions after formally considering the matter for months, which included analyzing synergies and regulatory matters.
- “Our Board of Directors is unanimous in its belief that the clearest and best path to long-term stockholder values is executing our standalone strategic plan, leveraging our diverse business segments to drive consistent revenue and profit growth,” PFG CEO George Holm said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
US Foods CEO David Flitman said in early August that the Illinois-based company had initiated the process and probed the combination potential with PFG even earlier.
Flitman’s company has continued to have investment capital available. Its board in recent years approved billions of dollars for share repurchases.
With the merger discussions ending, US Foods’ board approved another $1 billion share repurchase program, the company said.
“We have concluded that our best path to long-term value creation is executing our Long-range Plan, including our disciplined capital allocation framework,” Flitman said in a statement.
The two companies already control major markets. US Foods has approximately 30,000 workers, and Virginia-headquartered PFG has around 43,000 workers, according to company figures.
The pair follow behind Sysco in their tractor count, per Transport Topics’ list of the largest private carriers.
