RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Shareholders of Smithfield Foods Inc. on Tuesday approved a plan to sell the world’s largest pork producer and processor to a Chinese company.
The Smithfield, Va.-based company said more than 96 percent of the votes cast during a special meeting in Richmond were in favor of Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd.’s $34 per share offer, or $4.72 billion in cash.
The deal, which is expected to close Thursday, will be the largest takeover of a U.S. company by a Chinese firm, valued at about $7.1 billion including debt. Its sale to Hong Kong-based Shuanghui comes at a time of serious food safety problems in China, some of which have involved Shuanghui, which owns food and logistics enterprises and is the largest shareholder of China’s biggest meat processor.
“We will cease to be the company you saw in the past,” Smithfield’s CEO Larry Pope told shareholders. “This does not mean the company goes away, the company just enters into a new phase and a new era of its life.”
Smithfield has said that the buyout and China’s growing demand for pork will be a boon for American agriculture and an opportunity to export to new markets. Smithfield’s existing management team will remain in place and Shuanghui also will honor labor agreements with Smithfield workers. Shareholders also on Tuesday approved retention bonuses for the company’s executives.
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