Farms.com Home   Ag Industry News

Pilgrim’s Pride to Acquire Hillshire in $6.4-Billion Deal

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

The world’s second largest chicken producer, Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., said that it has offered to buy Hillshire Brands Co., in a $6.4-billion deal, including debt.

The move allows Pilgrim to add pork and beef products to its existing portfolio which until now only included chicken. The company agreed to a cash offer of $45 per share, which is a 24 per cent premium. Looking at the market, Hillshire shares were trading a bit higher than the offer at $45.35, which left some analysis’ to speculate that investors were expecting a higher offer from Pilgrim.  

Earlier this month, Hillshire said it planned to buy Pinnacle Foods, in a $4.23- billion deal. The company makes frozen vegetables, cake mixes and frozen dinners.

According to Pilgrim, the bid has the support of Brazilian-based JBS S.A., which owns about 68 per cent of the company. JBS is the largest multinational meat processing company in the world, processing beef, chicken, and pork.

The company plans to finance the deal with a combination of existing cash and third party financing.
 


Trending Video

A new era in biostimulants and bionutritionals

Video: A new era in biostimulants and bionutritionals


In response to the growing need for efficient, effective biosolutions, HGS BioScience continues to expand its footprint in the bionutritional and biostimulant market with the acquisition of NutriAg, Ltd. The Paine Schwartz Partners-backed HGS BioScience is a global leader in humic and fulvic acid products. Toronto-based NutriAg is an innovator in bionutritional technologies with a deep R&D engine. North American growers and retailers will benefit from:

• Solutions across the biostimulant spectrum - including humics, fulvics, bionutritionals, carbohydrate chelation, amino acids, plant and seaweed extracts, and microbial technologies.
• A portfolio and R&D pipeline of science-backed solutions proven to drive crop productivity and farm profitability.
• Actionable nutrient insights and recommendations based on data specific to their farm and cropping goals with the NutriAnalytics platform