MO Lawyers Blog

Four years after Bill Seabaugh helped marry Ralcorp Holdings Inc. to a Post cereal business, the Bryan Cave attorney is helping to put them asunder.

St. Louis-based Ralcorp announced yesterday that it plans to spin off Post Foods to its shareholders. Post Foods brands include Honey Bunches of Oats, Grape Nuts and Post Raisin Bran.

As part of the separation, Post Foods will issue between $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion of debt. About $1 billion of that will go to Ralcorp, according to the company’s announcement. It expects the separation will take about four to six months.

In 2007, Seabaugh helped Ralcorp purchase the Post cereal company from Kraft Foods Inc. in a $2.6 billion transaction. 

Now, Seabaugh is leading a Bryan Cave team in advising Ralcorp on the separation. He’s working with partner R. Randall Wang, who is overseeing SEC issues, and partner Philip Wright, who is advising on tax aspects of the deal. Lawyers from New York firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz are also serving as legal counsel to Ralcorp.