Kraft Heinz up on potential grocery business spinoff worth up to $20 billion

** Shares of packaged food maker Kraft Heinz KHC up 2.4% at $27.79 premarket

** Co is preparing a potential spin-off of a large chunk of its grocery business, including many Kraft products, into a new entity that could be valued at as much as $20 billion on its own, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday

** The structure of the deal could change and there is no guarantee Kraft Heinz would move forward with any such deal- source

** Brokerage TD Cowen says mega-mergers in food have low success rates and that "depth" tends to beat "breadth", since skill set and investment requirements to succeed in disparate parts of the grocery store tend to differ

** Average rating of 24 analysts is "hold"; with a median PT of $29 - data compiled by LSEG

** Shares were up 2.5% at close on Friday, following the news, and are down 11.6% YTD