Registration No. 333-      

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C.  20549

 

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 

 

GENERAL MILLS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

 

Number One General Mills Boulevard

Minneapolis, Minnesota  55426

(Address of principal executive offices)

 

 

General Mills, Inc.

2011 Stock Compensation Plan

 

General Mills, Inc.

2011 Compensation Plan for Non-Employee Directors

(Full title of the plan)

 

 

Chris A. Rauschl, Esq.

Senior Counsel and Assistant Secretary

General Mills, Inc.

Number One General Mills Boulevard

Minneapolis, Minnesota  55426

(763) 764-7600

(Name, address and telephone number of agent for service)

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company.  See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

 

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

Proposed

Proposed Maxi-

Amount

Maximum

mum Aggregate

Title of Securities

to be

Offering Price

Offering

Amount of

to be Registered

Registered (1)

Per Share (2)

Price (2)

Registration Fee

Common Stock, $.10 par value

41,400,000

$

38.26

$

1,583,964,000

$

181,522.27

(1)   Pursuant to Rule 416(a), also covers additional securities that may become issuable as a result of stock splits, stock dividends or similar transactions.  40,000,000 shares are being registered for awards under the General Mills, Inc. 2011 Stock Compensation Plan, and 1,400,000 shares are being registered for awards under the General Mills, Inc. 2011 Compensation Plan for Non-Employee Directors.

(2)   This amount is estimated only to determine the amount of the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(h).  The actual aggregate offering price could be higher or lower.  The proposed maximum offering price is based upon the average of the high and low prices of the Registrant’s Common Stock as reported on the New York Stock Exchange on February 21, 2012.

 

 

 

PART I

 

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE SECTION 10(a) PROSPECTUS

 

The documents containing the information specified in Part I of Form S-8 have been or will be sent or given to participants as specified by Rule 428(b)(1) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”).

 

PART II

 

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

 

Item 3.  Incorporation of Documents by Reference.

 

General Mills, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), incorporates by reference into this Registration Statement the following documents:

 

(a)         the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K (File No. 001-01185) for the fiscal year ended May 29, 2011 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on July 8, 2011 pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”);

 

(b)         all other reports filed by the Company with the SEC pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act since May 29, 2011;

 

(c)          the description of the Company’s capital stock contained in the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-145358) filed with the SEC on August 9, 2007; and

 

(d)         all documents filed by the Company with the SEC pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act after the date of this Registration Statement and prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment that indicates that all securities offered have been sold or that deregisters all such securities then remaining to be sold.

 

Any statement contained in any document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for the purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any subsequently filed document which also is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement.  Any statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this Registration Statement.

 

Item 4.  Description of Securities.

 

Not applicable.

 

Item 5.  Interests of Named Experts and Counsel.

 

Certain legal matters in connection with the shares of common stock to which this Registration Statement relates have been passed upon by Chris A. Rauschl, Senior Counsel and Assistant Secretary of the Company.  Mr. Rauschl is eligible to participate in the General Mills, Inc. 2011 Stock Compensation Plan and owns shares of the Company’s common stock.

 

Item 6.  Indemnification of Directors and Officers.

 

Under provisions of the Company’s By-laws, each person who is or was a director or officer of the Company shall be indemnified by the Company to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law.

 

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Under Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, the directors and officers of the Company are entitled, under certain circumstances, to be indemnified by it against all expenses and liabilities incurred by or imposed upon them as a result of suits or actions brought against them as such directors and officers, if they act in good faith and in a manner they reasonably believe to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the Company, and, with respect to any criminal action, have no reasonable cause to believe their conduct was unlawful; except that no indemnification shall be made against expenses in respect of any claim, issue or matter as to which they shall have been adjudged to be liable to the Company, unless and only to the extent that the court in which such action or suit was brought shall determine upon application that, despite the adjudication of liability but in view of all the circumstances of the case, they are fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for such expenses which such court shall deem proper.

 

The Company maintains directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that reimburses the Company for certain indemnification liabilities and expenses, and covers directors and officers in certain situations where indemnification is not available from the Company.

 

Item 7.  Exemption from Registration Claimed.

 

Not applicable.

 

Item 8.  Exhibits.

 

Exhibit Number		Description
3.1		Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2009).
3.2		By-laws of the Company (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed December 11, 2008).
4.1		General Mills, Inc. 2011 Stock Compensation Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended November 27, 2011).
4.2		General Mills, Inc. 2011 Compensation Plan for Non-Employee Directors (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended November 27, 2011).
5.1		Opinion and Consent of Chris A. Rauschl, Senior Counsel and Assistant Secretary of the Company.
23.1		Consent of KPMG LLP, the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm. (Consent of counsel included in Exhibit 5.1)
24.1		Powers of Attorney.

 

Item 9.  Undertakings.

 

(a)  The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

 

(1)         To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement:

 

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(i)             To include any prospectus required by section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act;

 

(ii)          To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the Registration Statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information in the Registration Statement.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than 20% change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in the effective Registration Statement;

 

(iii)       To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the Registration Statement or any material change to such information in the Registration Statement;

 

provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) of this section do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the SEC by the registrant pursuant to section 13 or section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement.

 

(2)         That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

 

(3)         To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

 

(4)         That, for the purpose of determining liability of the registrant under the Securities Act to any purchaser in the initial distribution of the securities, the undersigned registrant undertakes that in a primary offering of securities of the undersigned registrant pursuant to the Registration Statement, regardless of the underwriting method used to sell the securities to the purchaser, if the securities are offered or sold to such purchaser by means of any of the following communications, the undersigned registrant will be a seller to the purchaser and will be considered to offer or sell such securities to such purchaser:

 

(i)             Any preliminary prospectus or prospectus of the undersigned registrant relating to the offering required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424;

 

(ii)          Any free writing prospectus relating to the offering prepared by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant or used or referred to by the undersigned registrant;

 

(iii)       The portion of any other free writing prospectus relating to the offering containing material information about the undersigned registrant or its securities provided by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant; and

 

(iv)      Any other communication that is an offer in the offering made by the undersigned registrant to the purchaser.

 

(b)  The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the registrant’s annual report pursuant to section 13(a) or section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement shall

 

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be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

 

(c)  Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable.  In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

 

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SIGNATURES

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Golden Valley, State of Minnesota, on the 22nd day of February, 2012.

 

	GENERAL MILLS, INC.
	By:	/s/ Roderick A. Palmore
			Name:	Roderick A. Palmore
			Title:	Executive Vice President,
				General Counsel and Secretary

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

 

Signature			Title
Bradbury H. Anderson			Director	)
R. Kerry Clark			Director	)
Paul Danos			Director	)
William T. Esrey			Director	)
Raymond V. Gilmartin			Director	)
Judith Richards Hope			Director	)
Heidi G. Miller			Director	)
Hilda Ochoa-Brillembourg			Director	)		By:	/s/ Roderick A. Palmore
Steve Odland			Director	)			Roderick A. Palmore
Kendall J. Powell			Chief Executive Officer and	)			Attorney-in-Fact
			Director (Principal Executive	)
			Officer)	)		February 22, 2012
Michael D. Rose			Director	)
Robert L. Ryan			Director	)
Dorothy A. Terrell			Director	)
By:	/s/ Donal L. Mulligan		Executive Vice President and			February 22, 2012
Donal L. Mulligan			Chief Financial Officer
			(Principal Financial Officer)
By:	/s/ Jerald A. Young		Vice President, Controller			February 22, 2012
Jerald A. Young			(Principal Accounting Officer)

 

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EXHIBIT INDEX

 

Exhibit Number		Description
3.1		Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2009).
3.2		By-laws of the Company (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed December 11, 2008).
4.1		General Mills, Inc. 2011 Stock Compensation Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended November 27, 2011).
4.2		General Mills, Inc. 2011 Compensation Plan for Non-Employee Directors (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended November 27, 2011).
5.1		Opinion and Consent of Chris A. Rauschl, Senior Counsel and Assistant Secretary of the Company.
23.1		Consent of KPMG LLP, the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm. (Consent of counsel included in Exhibit 5.1)
24.1		Powers of Attorney.

 

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