Quaker Oats Reportedly Spurns $13.7-Billion Offer From Pepsi

Quaker Oats Co. reportedly rejected a $13.7-billion offer on Thursday to be acquired by PepsiCo Inc.

After being turned down, PepsiCo seemed unlikely to sweeten its offer of 2.2 of its shares for each share of Quaker Oats, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday, citing people close to the negotiations.

Neither PepsiCo nor Quaker would comment.

The offer valued Quaker shares at $103.53, or 26% above their Thursday closing price of $82.25 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Shares of PepsiCo fell 88 cents to $47.13 on the NYSE Thursday.

Chicago-based Quaker is considered an attractive food and beverage company, primarily because of the success of its Gatorade sports drink, which posted sales of $1.8 billion last year. When Quaker acquired the brand in 1984, it sold $100 million worth.

Gatorade now accounts for more than 80% of the sports drink market, far outperforming Coca-Cola’s Powerade brand and Pepsi’s own All-Sport.

Other Quaker brands include Rice-a-Roni, Aunt Jemima and Cap’n Crunch.