WH Group to Offer up to 20% of Smithfield Shares in US Listing

By Hallie Gu

November 17, 2024 at 9:20PM EST

An employee removes internal organs from a pig at a Smithfield Foods Inc. 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) -- The world’s biggest pork producer WH Group Ltd. plans to list up to 20% of shares of its subsidiary Smithfield Foods Inc. on the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ, it said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing.

The firm first announced the proposed share sale in July and Bloomberg News reported at the time it planned to raise at least $1 billion from the listing. Smithfield expects to use the money on capital investments in infrastructure, automation, and expanding packaged meats capacity, according to the filing dated Nov. 18.

WH Group did not specify a share price or a timeframe for the offering and said it needs approval from US authorities.

Smithfield, which will remain a subsidiary of WH Group, has moved to streamline its operations in the US. WH Group acquired the company in 2013, and the combined operation went public in 2014 after raising more than $2 billion.