Pilgrim's Pride withdraws proposal to acquire Hillshire Brands, says it's not in best interest to raise offer of US$55/share in cash

Nevin Barich

GREELEY, Colorado , June 9, 2014 (press release) – Pilgrim's Pride Corporation (Nasdaq: PPC) ("Pilgrim's") today announced that it has withdrawn its proposal to acquire The Hillshire Brands Company (NYSE: HSH) ("Hillshire"). Pilgrim's decision to withdraw follows today's announcement by Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN) regarding Hillshire.

"As a disciplined acquirer, we determined that it was in the best interests of our shareholders not to increase our proposed price of $55.00 per share in cash," said Bill Lovette, Pilgrim's Chief Executive Officer. "Pilgrim's will maintain its strong focus on operational excellence and shareholder value, while pursuing acquisition opportunities that advance our stated strategy.

We appreciate the support of our shareholders, customers and team members throughout this process."

Pilgrim's confirms that it received fully-committed financing to support its proposal from a consortium of leading banks: Wells Fargo Bank, N. A., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC,
Barclay's Bank PLC, Cooperative Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank B.A. (Rabobank International), Bank of Montreal Capital Markets Corp. Under the terms of the commitments, which were substantially over-subscribed, the anticipated interest rate was approximately 4.1 percent, with no maturities in the first seven years.

About Pilgrim's Pride

Pilgrim's Pride Corporation employs approximately 35,700 people and operates chicken processing plants and prepared-foods facilities in 12 states, Puerto Rico and Mexico. Pilgrim's primary distribution is through retailers and foodservice distributors.

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.