MW Pork giant Smithfield Foods cuts IPO price as Wall Street shows reduced appetite

By Steve Gelsi

Bacon producer marks second big IPO to debut at a reduced price, following Venture Energy

Smithfield Foods Inc. is returning as a publicly-traded company at a reduced price Tuesday, about 12 years after China's WH Group took it private.

Smithfield (SFD) priced 26.1 million shares at $20 a share to raise $521.7 million with underwriters Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities and Goldman Sachs.

The IPO from the largest U.S. processor of fresh pork priced below its estimated range of $23 to $27 a share and cut the size of the IPO from its earlier projection of 34.8 million shares.

It's the second recent IPO to debut at a discounted price after Venture Global Inc. $(VG)$, which debuted Friday at $25 a share.

WH Group Ltd. (HK:288) acquired Smithfield Foods in 2013 for $4.72 billion. At the time, it was the largest purchase of an American company by a Chinese entity.

WH Group continues to own a majority stake in the company.

Smithfield Foods, which makes Nathan's hot dogs, Eckrich deli meat and Smithfield supermarket products, reported net income from continuing operations of $581 million on revenue of $10.19 billion in the nine months ending Sept. 29. In the year-ago period, it booked a loss of $2 million on revenue of $10.64 billion.

The company carved out its European operations in August, transferring the business to WH Group.

-Steve Gelsi

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January 28, 2025 07:47 ET (12:47 GMT)

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