Mergers & Acquisitions

As part of strategic efforts to reduce the production of fresh, commodity chicken, Tyson Foods Inc. plans to sell its poultry plants in Ashland and Gadsden, Ala., to Koch Foods Incorporated.

Avery Dennison Corporation will acquire all outstanding shares of Paxar Corporation for $30.50 per share in a cash transaction valued at approximately $1.34 billion.

Altria Group Inc. announces the distribution ratio for its previously announced spin off of Kraft Foods Inc. Altria shareholders received approximately 0.69 of a share of Kraft for each share of Altria common stock held.

Pony International LLC appoints experienced athletic footwear industry executive Kevin Wulff as its Chief Executive Officer.

Sara Lee Corporation intends to simplify the management structure of its International business to better align with the company's multi-year transformation from a diversified holding company to an integrated operating company.

Ward Klein, chief executive officer of Energizer Holdings Inc., has been elected to the Board of Directors of Brown Shoe Company Inc.

Wal-Mart appoints David Wild to the position of senior vice president, new business development.

Hyperion Solutions merges with Oracle to create an end-to-end performance management system based on Hyperion's EPM software coupled with Oracle's Business Intelligence tools and analytics applications.