Ling Chops Up the Meatball

The packers make money out of everything but the pig's squeal.

--Old Stockyards Saying

When Ling-Temco-Vought took over Chicago's Wilson & Co. in 1967, James J. Ling showed the finesse of a butcher slicing a juicy porterhouse. He carved the company into three parts--meat packing, sporting goods and drugs--and sold pieces of each part to the public. The three parts, and their stocks, were quickly nicknamed "meatball," "golf ball" and "goofball." Now Ling is cutting his meatball into hamburger. Five companies will be chopped out of Wilson's meat operations: Wilson Certified Foods, Wilson Beef & Lamb, Wilson Laurel Farms, Wilson-Sinclair and Wilson Agri-Business Enterprises.

Until this week, Wilson meat stockholders could either retain their shares in the parent company or exchange them for a complex package of cash and stock in each of the first four new companies; the fifth will be wholly owned by Wilson & Co. If shareholders accept this offer. Jim Ling will have control of all the new companies. He will also increase his holdings in the parent Wilson company from 82% to 90%.

The split-up is supposed to provide "flexibility for growth," but, most important, it will provide financially pressed Jim Ling with another means of raising cash. Ling, who needs millions this year to pay off loans and to service his debt, can sell off or borrow against the subdivided parts of Wilson meat more easily than the whole company. He may well be in a selling mood at a time when LTV stock is down to only 40% of its price two years ago and other LTV holdings are also depressed. Until recently, LTV officials had been negotiating to sell the company's 55% interest in Braniff Airways to Norton Simon Inc., but they ended the talks, presumably because terms could not be agreed upon.

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