RJR Nabisco was an American conglomerate formed in 1985 through the merger of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Nabisco Brands. While it owned a stable of iconic brands like Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers, and Winston and Camel cigarettes, the company is etched into financial history not for its products, but for being the subject of the most famous—and at the time, largest—Leveraged Buyout (LBO) in history. The titanic 1988 battle for control of the company, immortalized in the book and film Barbarians at the Gate, became a defining symbol of the greed and financial engineering of the 1980s. For investors, the story of RJR Nabisco is more than just a dramatic tale; it's a masterclass in corporate governance, the dangers of debt, and the eternal conflict between management and shareholder interests.
The RJR Nabisco LBO wasn't just a transaction; it was a Wall Street spectacle. In October 1988, the company's then-CEO, F. Ross Johnson, proposed taking the company private in a management-led buyout. His initial bid, however, was seen as an attempt to seize the company on the cheap, triggering a furious bidding war that drew in the biggest names in finance.
The main battle was between two heavyweight contenders:
The prize was a company that, despite being in the “unsexy” industries of tobacco and packaged foods, was a veritable cash machine. These businesses required little capital investment and generated enormous, steady profits—the perfect target for an LBO.
The winning bid from KKR was a staggering $25 billion (nearly $70 billion in today's money). To fund this, KKR put up a relatively small amount of its own money and borrowed the rest, primarily by issuing high-risk, high-yield bonds known as Junk Bonds. The plan was simple, if audacious: use the massive cash flows from RJR's cigarette and cookie sales to pay off the mountains of debt. The company's own assets and cash flow were effectively used to finance its own purchase. This is the essence of a leveraged buyout: using leverage (debt) to amplify returns. If it works, the private equity owners can make a fortune. If it fails, the debt can crush the company.
After KKR took control, RJR Nabisco was a changed company. Saddled with immense debt, the new management was forced to slash costs ruthlessly, sell off assets, and focus every ounce of energy on generating cash to pay its interest bills. The LBO ultimately led to the dismemberment of the conglomerate. Over the following decade, the company was broken up and its various parts were sold off or spun out into separate public companies, including the eventual separation of the food and tobacco businesses. The original RJR Nabisco ceased to exist.
The RJR Nabisco saga is a treasure trove of lessons that resonate deeply with the principles of Value Investing.