Source: Bob Moser, MEATINGPLACE, 12/8/11

Pilgrim's Pride will attempt to boost its capital structure with a rights offering of 44.44 million shares of common stock made available to stockholders, parent company JBS SA announced Thursday.

Pilgrim's Pride stockholders would receive non-transferable rights to buy shares of common stock from the company at a subscription price of US$4.50 per share, which could result in aggregate gross proceeds of US$200 million for Pilgrim's Pride, according to the company's press release.

Current stockholders will be able to purchase their respective pro rata portions of the new shares being offered based on how much they owned as of the announcement this week. Stockholders that fully exercise their rights get the chance to purchase extra shares that remain unclaimed.

JBS SA said it plans to buy the maximum number of shares it's entitled to through subsidiary JBS USA Holdings, as the majority stockholder of Pilgrim's Pride. It will also buy rights forfeited by other stockholders.

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