Cold Foods Industry News

Brazilians to buy Pilgrim's Pride?

A Wall Street Journal article says Brazilian processor JBS SA, parent company of JBS Swift, is about to pay $2 billion to acquire poultry giant Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., Pittsburg, Texas. The deal could be announced as soon as next week, the paper reports, with the money being raised by the initial stock offering for JBS USA Holdings.

The rumor originally started in the Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico, which published an article stating that the deal was imminent. Nobody from either JBS or Pilgrim’s Pride is commenting on the matter. Pilgrim’s issued statements to several media outlets that said, “We do not comment on rumors or speculation.”

Pilgrim’s Pride declared bankruptcy nine months ago and has streamlined its process by idling plants and selling one to Foster Farms this year. Recent reports from the company indicated that it was on track to emerge from bankruptcy later this year. JBS SA had attempted to add on to its North American business holdings by acquiring National Beef last year. While that deal failed to go through, it did acquire the beef operations of Smithfield Foods. Should the company acquire Pilgrim’s Pride, it would immediately rival Tyson Foods as the largest meat processor in the country.

Source: Dallas Business Journal, Wall Street Journal, The Big Money