ADVERTISEMENT

Commodities

Bacon Brand Smithfield Said to Pick Banks for $1 Billion IPO

The Smithfield Foods Inc. logo is displayed on a box at the company's pork processing facility in Milan, Missouri, U.S., on Wednesday, April 12, 2017. WH Group Ltd. acquired Virginia-based Smithfield, the world's largest pork producer, in 2013 for $6.95 billion. As Smithfield can't export sausage, ham and bacon from its U.S. factories, because China prohibits imports of processed meat, WH Group opened an 800 million-yuan ($116 million) factory in Zhengzhou that will produce 30,000 metric tons of those meats when it reaches full capacity next year. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Smithfield Foods Inc., the maker of Farmland bacon and Farmer John sausages, has picked banks to arrange a US initial public offering that may seek to raise at least $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company is working with Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley on the planned listing, the people said. It could carry out an IPO as soon as this year, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. 

The move comes as Smithfield is seeking to restore profits after its pork business grappled with lackluster demand last year. The company closed a plant in North Carolina and plans to shutter another one in Iowa to help streamline operations. It also boosted investments in automation as it seeks to weather tight labor supplies. 

Smithfield is a subsidiary of WH Group Ltd., the world’s biggest pork producer. Shares of WH Group rose 5.2% in Hong Kong trading Friday, the biggest daily gain since April, giving the company a market value of about $8.6 billion. The company acquired Smithfield in 2013, and the combined group went public in 2014 after raising more than $2 billion.

Deliberations are ongoing and Smithfield may decide against a listing, the people said. Representatives for Smithfield and the banks declined to comment. 

WH Group posted revenue of about $26 billion in 2023, with net income of $606 million versus $1.4 billion the previous year, its annual report shows. Smithfield was founded in Virginia in 1936.

--With assistance from Gerson Freitas Jr..

(Updates with context in third paragraph.)

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.