JBS USA Pork announced July 1 that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Cargill Pork’s U.S.-based pork business for $1.45 billion.
Completion of the acquisition is subject to regulatory review and approval.
Included in JBS’ acquisition of Cargill’s pork business are two Midwest meat processing plants in Ottumwa and Beardstown, Ill. Both plants were originally acquired by Cargill in 1987. In 2014, the two plants processed a total of 9.3 million hogs.
The JBS purchase also includes five feed mills (two in Missouri, and one each in Arkansas, Iowa and Texas), and four hog farms (two in Arkansas and one each in Oklahoma and Texas).
JBS USA, based in Greeley, Col., first entered the U.S. pork market with the acquisition of Swift & Company in 2007 and has steadily improved performance ever since, a JBS statement said. The company has more than 6,000 team members and the total daily capacity to process more than 50,000 hogs at processing facilities in Marshalltown; Worthington, Minn.; and Louisville, Ky.
Source: IowaPork