Kraft Offers to Exchange Up to $3.6 Billion in Debt

   By Victoria Stilwell 
 

Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) offered to exchange as much as $3.6 billion in debt in an offer that includes eight series of notes that begin coming due in 2018.

Notes tendered will be accepted by priority, and there is a maximum acceptance amount for certain series. The exchange offers are set to expire on July 16.

Holders that tender their notes by an early deadline of June 29 will receive the full tender offer consideration for the particular set of notes.

Kraft in May reported its first-quarter earnings rose 1.8% as higher prices helped boost the packaged-food giant's revenue, though increased input costs continued to weigh on margins.

Kraft Foods is heading towards a split later this year, when it will create a global snacks company to be named Mondelez International and a business focused on North American grocery products that will retain the Kraft Foods name.

Shares of Kraft rose 0.9%, to $38.98 in recent trading, and the stock is up 13% in the past 12 months.

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