Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd., Hong Kong, changed its corporate name to WH Group Ltd., effective immediately.

The renaming underscores the company’s aspirations to solidify its leading position in the global pork industry, offering consumers worldwide animal protein products meeting high standards in quality, taste, variety and safety. The new name also serves to better differentiate the company as a corporate brand from its numerous product brands.

The WH Group name is derived from “Wanzhou Holdings,” where the Chinese characters “Wan” and “Zhou” connote eternity and continents respectively, while the WH Group logo design depicts four streams representing the Earth’s four major oceans, separating the space into five parts to represent the world’s continents.

“The renaming of our corporate brand to WH Group reflects the increasingly global reach of our operations, which combine the largest pork production companies in China and the United States and cater to consumers globally,” says Wan Long, group chairman and chief executive officer. “It also symbolizes our ambition to be a world-leading company known for food products that meet best-in-class standards of quality, nutrition and safety.”

WH Group is the controlling shareholder of Henan Shuanghui Investment & Development Co. Ltd., China’s largest meat processing business, and owns Smithfield Foods, Inc., a Smithfield, Va.-based pork processor and hog producer. Henan Shuanghui Investment & Development and Smithfield will retain their respective brand names and their consumer-facing brands.