Within a year Esmark was acquired by the Beatrice Companies, another conglomerate.

The only bigger buyout was the $6.2 billion takeover of the Beatrice Companies.

The Beatrice Companies announced today that, as expected, it would spin off part of the company in a public offering.

The company is a collection of food concerns that made up the international operations of the former Beatrice Companies.

E-II was spun off by the Beatrice Companies in 1987 as a holding company for several businesses.

He had previously been senior vice president of the Beatrice Companies and president of its consumer and commercial products group.

Donald P. Kelly, the former chairman of the Beatrice Company, has discussed a $38-a-share offer, valued at more than $700 million.

When the company hired him away from the Beatrice Companies in 1985 to be its president, Black & Decker was hemorrhaging badly.

The Beatrice Companies, which became privately owned a year ago in one of the largest leveraged buyouts, will apparently be going public again.

The company agreed on June 7 to purchase the Beatrice Company for $1.34 billion in cash and stock.