ConAgra Foods Receives $194 Million for Equity Interest, Expects to Receive $300 Million for Certain Assets.

OMAHA, Neb. -- ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE:CAG), one of North America's leading packaged food companies, today announced that Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, Incorporated has exercised its option to acquire ConAgra Foods' minority interest in Swift Foods; Swift Foods is the company created when ConAgra Foods divested its fresh beef and pork operations approximately two years ago. For its minority interest, ConAgra Foods received $194 million, and will record no gain or loss on the transaction. As planned, ConAgra Foods no longer has any equity in fresh beef and pork processing operations and expects to soon recover the financing it provided to Swift Foods' cattle feeding operations. The financing, which ConAgra Foods provided for two years, included a line of credit and a note receivable totaling approximately $300 million on the date of maturity; that financing was secured by cattle and feedlots. ConAgra Foods now has control of the assets of the cattle feeding operations, and will sell the cattle and feedlots in an orderly manner over the next few months. The proceeds from the sale of the cattle feeding assets are expected to repay ConAgra Foods for the financing provided to those operations.

As a result of today's announcement, the only remaining capital ConAgra Foods has in Swift Foods is $150 million of subordinated debt.

ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE:CAG) is one of North America's largest packaged food companies, serving consumer grocery retailers, as well as restaurants and other foodservice establishments. Popular ConAgra Foods consumer brands include: ACT II, Armour, Banquet, Blue Bonnet, Brown 'N Serve, Butterball, Chef Boyardee, Cook's, Crunch 'n Munch, DAVID, Decker, Eckrich, Egg Beaters, Fleischmann's, Golden Cuisine, Gulden's, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt's, Kid Cuisine, Knott's Berry Farm, La Choy, Lamb Weston, Libby's, Life Choice, Lightlife, Lunch Makers, MaMa Rosa's, Manwich, Marie Callender's, Orville Redenbacher's, PAM, Parkay, Pemmican, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip, Rosarita, Ro*Tel, Slim Jim, Snack Pack, Swiss Miss, Van Camp's, Wesson, Wolf, and many others. For more information, please visit us at www.conagrafoods.com.

Note on Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current views and assumptions of future events and financial performance and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Readers of this release should understand that these statements are not guarantees of performance or results. Many factors could affect the company's actual financial results and cause them to vary materially from the expectations contained in the forward-looking statements. These factors include, among other things, future economic circumstances, industry conditions, company performance and financial results, availability and prices of raw materials, product pricing, competitive environment and related market conditions, operating efficiencies, access to capital, actions of governments and regulatory factors affecting the company's businesses and other risks described in the company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements included in this release, which speak only as of the date made.