World's largest pork producer wants to list in the US

Smithfield Foods Inc., the world's largest pork producer, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the US, joining a growing number of companies looking to make a debut on the market this year, Bloomberg reports.

The company and a subsidiary indirectly owned by its owner, Hong Kong-listed WH Group Ltd., are offering shares for sale, according to a filing last week with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). WH Group will retain control of the company after the listing.

WH Group has already announced plans to sell 20% of Smithfield in an listing that is expected to value the company at at least $5.38 billion. The IPO comes more than a decade after WH Group acquired sausage maker Farmer John for $4.7 billion - the largest Chinese takeover of a U.S. company at the time.

The potential listing adds to expectations that U.S. IPO market volume could return to pre-pandemic averages. Share sales (primary listings) on U.S. exchanges raised $43 billion last year, below the $58 billion average in the decade before 2020, according to Bloomberg data.

Smithfield had a net profit of $581 million on revenue of $10.2 billion in the nine months ended Sept. 29, 2024, compared with a net loss of $2 million on revenue of $10.6 billion in the same period in 2023, according to SEC filings. The Smithfield, Virginia-based company produces packaged meat and fresh pork, which it sells under brands such as Eckrich and Nathan's Famous. Smithfield has about 34,000 employees in the United States and about 2,500 in Mexico, according to the source cited.

Investment banks Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are handling Smithfield's listing. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol "SFD." Proceeds from the IPO will be used for general corporate purposes, including capital investments in infrastructure, automation and capacity expansion, Smithfield said.