You Can’t Hack Bacon: Chinese Firm Buys Smithfield Foods
China has stolen all of the plans to our war machines– the ships, the planes, the fighter jets, the manufacturing process- but it can’t steal food via cyber theft. Chinese people want bacon and ham, so they bought it outright. Smithfield Foods, makers of Gwaltney, Smithfield, and Armour, have been sold to a Chinese company for 4.72 Billion dollars.
From WTOP here:
Chinese meat processor Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. has agreed to buy Smithfield Foods Inc. for approximately $4.72 billion in a deal that will take the world’s biggest pork producer private.
Hong Kong-based Shuanghui owns a variety of global businesses that include food, logistics and flavoring products and is China’s largest meat processing enterprise. Smithfield owns brands such as Armour, Farmland and its namesake.
Shareholders of Smithfield will receive $34 per share under terms of the deal announced Wednesday — a 31 percent premium to the Smithfield, Va., company’s closing stock price of $25.97 on Tuesday.
Both companies’ boards have unanimously approved the transaction, which still needs approval from Smithfield’s shareholders. The transaction may also be subject to review by the U.S.’s Committee on Foreign Investment.
The companies put the deal’s total value at about $7.1 billion, including debt. Smithfield’s stock will no longer be publicly traded once the deal closes.
Shuanghui has 13 facilities that produce more than 2.7 million tons of meat per year. Under the agreement, there will be no closures at Smithfield’s facilities and locations, including its Smithfield, Va., headquarters, the companies said.
Smithfield’s existing management team will remain in place and Shuanghui also will honor the collective bargaining agreements in place with Smithfield workers. The company has about 46,000 employees.
Ugh, I hate to hear about any company getting absorbed by the Chinese. I guess bacon is too greasy to get that Made in China stamp to stick. And now bacon prices in the US will be set by the Chinese.
