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Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 2/15/13
Smithfield Foods, Inc. announced it has signed a non-binding letter of intent to form a 50/50 joint venture with Kansas City Sausage Company, LLC, including its sister company, Pine Ridge Farms, LLC.
With sales of approximately $200 million, Kansas City Sausage is a leading U.S. sausage producer and sow processor. The company has operations in Des Moines, Iowa and Kansas City, Missouri. In Des Moines, the company produces premium raw materials for sausage, as well as value-added products, including boneless hams and hides.
"With our strong ongoing focus on building our packaged meats business, and with 15 percent of the United States sow population, this joint venture is a logical fit for Smithfield,” said C. Larry Pope, president and chief executive officer of Smithfield.
“It will provide a growth platform in two key packaged meats categories — breakfast sausage and dinner sausage — and will allow us to expand our product offerings to our customers. These categories represent over $4 billion in retail and foodservice sales annually. This is a big opportunity for Smithfield to grow in two categories that have not historically been a focus for the company,"
The transaction will be funded with cash on hand and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. Terms of the letter of intent were not disclosed. Smithfield expects the transaction to be immediately accretive to earnings.
Kansas City Sausage is one of Smithfield’s largest live sow customers today.
“This joint venture will enable us to move raw material up the value chain from commodity live sows to branded packaged meats,” said Pope. “We will merge Kansas City Sausage's low-cost, efficient operations and high-quality products with Smithfield's strong brands and sales and marketing team to continue to grow our packaged meats business. This combination should allow us to fill existing plant capacity and dramatically increase the joint venture's sales in a relatively short period of time."
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